Wanted: A Happy Ending
by Centra-gal86
Summary: infrequent updates Vold’s gone & Harry gets a special request from Dumbledore that’ll make 7th year unforgettable, but when people start dropping like flies he must put everything aside & pick only 3 friends to take part in the ultimate battle.
1. Ch1: The Best Birthday Gift

Summary: Voldemort's gone and Harry's never been happier. He even gets a special request from Dumbledore that'll make his last year at Hogwarts unforgettable, but when people start dropping like flies he must put everything aside and pick only three of his friends to take part in the ultimate battle. Sequel to Wanted: Love

Disclaimer: I own no characters in this story except Tali, Adish, Nyo, Quincy, and Belle. The rest belong to the lovely and talented JK Rowlings.

Wanted: A Happy Ending  
Ch1: The Best Birthday Gift

Harry turned around nervously and stared into the deep brown eyes looking back at him curiously. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath.

"Hermione. . .I need to ask you something," he said, looking down at his feet.

"What?"

"I know that we're young, but. . .'Mione. . .will you. . .that is. . .er. . .willyoumarryme?" Harry asked quickly.

"Oh, of course I will, Harry, darling!"

"Ah!"

Harry yelped as he collided with the ground in a most forceful manner. As he and his attacker rolled around on the ground, a strange smacking sound filled his ears. Arching his neck backward he let out another yelp as he realized a pair of puckered lips were quickly heading his way.

"Gerroff me!" came his muffled ordered after finding his face shoved into the grass. But when the weight the weight didn't remove itself, a flash of light sent it several feet in the opposite direction.

Brushing the dirt off his face as he stood up, what little remained of his nervousness left him. Crossing his arms, he spun around to meet the laughter that, until that moment, he hadn't noticed.

"Oh shut it," Harry said to his friends before glancing toward the barn where Ron remained in hysterics on the ground, "Sorry to say, Ron, but you don't look a thing like Hermione…even if you are in her clothes."

Ron stopped laughing, "I'm not wearing Hermione's clothes."

Harry raised an eyebrow causing, in the same instant, those present to burst out laughing again. Ron suddenly found himself in one of Hermione's many dresses, a red one that looked wonderful on Hermione, but clashed horribly with Ron's hair. Ron opened his mouth in indignation and cursed. Harry laughed and high-fived Sirius as the laughter refocused itself.

As he took in a deep breath of satisfaction, Harry couldn't help but feel lucky to be where he was. Not but seventh months ago did he learn of a prophecy that called for his demise at the hands of Voldemort. But for not the first time in his life, luck took a liking to him. Voldemort had been dead for five months now, and Harry was still alive and kicking.

After his return to the living the world—a tale that Harry had grown beyond tired of repeating—he was finally experiencing a normal life…or at least as close to a normal life as he was going to get. For the first time he could remember he no longer carried the burden of being the Boy-Who-Lived. The wizarding world was still just as hyped up on "Potter-mania" as when he first came back from the dead, but it ten times better than what it had been prior to Voldemort's downfall.

He no longer had to go about his life knowing that everyone expected him to kill the darkest wizard to ever walk the planet. He no longer had to worry about his friends being prime targets for Voldemort's followers—all of whom were either dead or serving life sentences in Azkaban. But perhaps best of all, on a more personal note, Harry never had to go back to Number 4 Privet Drive again.

Indeed, ever since the ex-Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, had forced the removal of Harry's memories and stumbled across the Shrieking Shack incidence from his third year, Sirius had been reinstated as Harry's legal guardian. And, as Harry was quite pleased to tell anyone who had somehow remained in the dark about the whole ordeal, he was actually spending the summer the way he wanted to.

Living his godfather, Tali (Sirius' new wife), and their good friend Remus Lupin, he spent his days with his friends—both old and young—playing Quidditch, exploiting the never-ending offers of freebees that came from every imaginable business and dignitary, and planning pranks to pull back at Hogwarts. It had been his misfortune to only create the New Marauders the previous year, and if he had any hope of living up to he original Marauders—who had been in business for all seven years at Hogwarts—he needed to make this year explosive.

While Ron seemed rather depressed at the idea of returning to school, and Hermione had already begun to panic about the upcoming NEWTS, Harry was personally looking forward to his last and, most likely, easiest year at Hogwarts yet. He doubted that he would learn much, but all the more time for him to spend having fun—a luxury he had only just recently learned the pleasure of. What with Voldemort and all his followers out of the picture, and with his recently attained, unmatched power, Harry couldn't think of anyone fool enough to attack the school in some form or another.

"Harry!"

As everyone turned to see Hermione racing toward them with her father in tow, Harry grinned at them while muttering to the others present, "Not a word."

Hermione threw herself at Harry who caught her and spun her around off her feet before setting her down on the ground and kissing her. When they broke apart, Mr. Granger was standing not but a few feet away from them, smiling. Harry coughed nervously, looking anywhere but the elder man's face.

Hermione laughed and playfully hit Harry's shoulder, "Relax, Harry. It's just my dad."

Despite this reassurance, Harry couldn't help but still feel embarrassed. Nevertheless, he extended his hand to Mr. Granger who promptly shook it, "Nice to see you again, Harry."

"You, too, Mr. Granger," Harry said.

"Happy birthday, Remus!" Hermione exclaimed, spotting him.

"Thank you, Hermione," Remus smiled.

Hermione nodded and looked around at the rest of her friends but stopped when her eyes fell upon Ron, "Er. . .Ron. . .is that my dress?"

Ron blushed and jerked his head toward Harry who smiled innocently. Hermione looked at him with her hands on her hips, "Giving out my clothes now, are you?"

Harry sighed and hunched his shoulder, "Guilty."

Hermione laughed and turned back to Ron, "I do hope that you're planning to change before the party?"

"I will if Harry gives me my clothes back," Ron said hopefully.

Harry raised an eyebrow to his other friends as if to ask their opinions. They all laughed and shook their heads, no.

"And the crowd speaks," Harry said, bowing slightly in 'regret.'

"Ah, come on, Harry! I'm sorry already!" Ron pleaded.

"Sorry we're late," McGonagall said as she and Dumbledore walked into the yard.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, "Experimenting with your sister's clothes, Mr. Weasley?"

Ron groaned and smacked his hand to his forehead, leaving everyone else to laugh again. Harry shook his head as he laughed and Ron was back in his own clothes, much to the disappointment of the others.

"Thanks, man," Ron said with a sigh of relief.

"Just watch what you say next time," Harry said jokingly, eyes twinkling.

"You know, that's weird," Ron said, motioning to Harry's eyes.

"What? Was I doing it again?" Harry asked, bringing his fingers up under his glasses.

It wasn't too long ago that Harry had been awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class for his 'heroic defeat of the Dark Lord.' Part of the award had been, however odd it may have seemed, the legendary eye twinkle that, up till that point, only Dumbledore currently had.

"And again, and again, and again," Ron laughed, "This is the tenth time in the past hour."

"You'd think you'd get used to it after a while, then," Lavender commented.

Ron shook his head, "It's not bad, just. . .it's like I'm talking to Dumbledore every time Harry laughs."

"I am honored that you think of me so often, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said, smiling, before turning to Harry, "Harry, Severus has asked me to inform you that he will be unable to attend."

"Snape? That git wasn't invited in the first place!" Sirius exclaimed.

Harry smiled mischievously, "Yeah he was. . .too bad he couldn't come. . ."

"Harry Potter, what are you scheming now?" Tali asked with a hint of amusement.

"Scheming? Me? Nothing, nothing at all," he said, though no one except Dumbledore looked to believe him, so he continued, ". . .I finished all the scheming _months_ ago."

"Do we even want to know?" Remus asked.

"Most likely," Harry said, managing to fight down the urge to laugh at his knowledge.

"You're going to tell us, then?" asked Fred.

"You'll find out soon enough," Harry said with amusement.

"You men are all the same, you know that?" asked Ginny.

Ron shrugged, "You make it sound like a bad thing."

Ginny shoved him out of his chair and he landed roughly on the ground, "Hey, what was that for?"

She simply stuck her tongue out at him before turning back to everyone else, "So what are we doing now that everyone's here?"

The men all looked at each other and smiled, "CAKE!"

No sooner had the suggestion been made then did Tali and Mrs. Weasley appear in the garden carrying a huge cake that had to be at least twice the size of Dobby. "Merlin's beard!" Mr. Weasley exclaimed, "I've never seen a cake this big! Good job, Molly!"

"Don't look at me! It certainly wasn't this big when I baked it!" she said, setting it down and staring at it.

"That was before the cake met Harry," Sirius whispered to the kids who all laughed.

Harry simply shrugged, "It was your idea, Padfoot."

"Mr. Granger. . .can I talk to you for a minute?" Harry asked as he glanced around to make sure that Hermione wasn't anywhere close to them. Indeed, she was eating cake with Lavender and Ginny on the other side of the garden.

"Certainly," Mr. Granger turned around and excused himself from his conversation with McGonagall, "What can I do for you?"

Harry looked around nervously again, "Er. . .can we go somewhere. . .quieter?"

Mr. Granger glanced around as well and nodded, "I could do with some quiet from those Weasley boys."

Harry turned to see Fred and George sneak up behind Ginny with a magically brought to life rubber snake, and he shook his head. They would be getting an earful from their mother soon.

Harry led Mr. Granger up the hill housed a grand weeping willow. On the other side of the hill a beautiful, crystal clear lake reflected the sun in such a way that both men had to shield their eyes against the glare. Breathing deeply at the majestic sight, Harry felt his nerves calm ever so slightly. Heading into the shade that the willow's branches provided, he motioned for Mr. Granger to follow him.

Once they were both seated on the bench that had been elegantly carved into the trunk of the tree, Harry looked around nervously again and turned back to Mr. Granger, "Er...sir...I need to ask you something..."

"Go ahead," Mr. Granger nodded.

"Okay...I know this is going to sound a bit odd coming from me, seeing as how I'm only seventeen, but...er...that is..." Harry broke off and shuffled his feet uneasily.

"My boy, what is it?"

Harry took a deep breath and looked up into the elder man's eyes, "Sir, if it's alright with you...I...I'd like to ask Hermione to marry me."

Harry quickly broke the gaze and flushed bright red at finally getting the request out. Mr. Granger looked taken back and blinked a couple times.

Harry took this as hesitation and decided to continue, "I know we're both really young, but I'll take care of her, I swear I'd never let anything ever happen to her! I love her and—"

"No, no, calm down, my boy. You just caught me off guard for a moment," Mr. Granger interrupted him, "That certainly wasn't what I was expecting...and I know that you wouldn't let any harm befall my daughter...but, as you stated, you two are awfully young."

"I know, sir. You see, it's just that, every time I see her...it's like...well, I'm not exactly sure how to describe it..." Harry led off again, feeling rather uncomfortable.

"I see," Mr. Grange said, taking a seat on a bench near the tree.

The silence that followed that, Harry thought, was almost worse than his execution at Voldemort's hands had been. He unconsciously nibbled on the corner of his mouth and kept glancing from his feet to Mr. Granger and back again. Nearly wishing that he hadn't asked in the first place, Harry was about to just say forget it when the elder man looked up.

"Harry...Hermione is the only thing I have left..."

Harry nodded quickly, "I understand, sir—"

"But I trust you enough to share her with you," Mr. Granger said smiling at the astonished look on Harry's face, "And I'd be honored to have you as a son-in-law."

Harry smiled brightly, "Thank you, sir! Thanks a lot!"

"It's quite alright, my boy. Just make sure to take care of her," Mr. Granger said, clapping his shoulder.

"Harry! Dad! Where are you two?" Hermione's voice reached the two, "Remus is going to open his gifts!"

"Right here, Hermione," Harry said, stepping out of the shield that was the tree branches.

Hermione reached the top of the hill and looked at the pair of them, "What are you two doing all the way up here?"

Harry looked at Mr. Granger and smiled mischievously, "Sorry, that information's classified."

Hermione pursed her lips, "Fine, be that way then. I'll find out eventually."

The two men couldn't help but laugh at the irony which only caused Hermione's face to fall into curiosity, "What?"

"Nothing, Hermione, nothing," Harry said, tossing his arm around her shoulder.

Hermione looked back at her dad and then at Harry, "Are you sure you're feeling okay, Harry?"

"Of course! We better hurry up and get back to the party," Harry said, pulling on her arm.

By the time the three made it back to the party, Sirius was bouncing off the walls in anticipation of giving his gift. They were quickly ushered to their seats.

"Me first, me first!" Sirius shouted, shoving his gift into Remus' hands.

"Er...okay, Padfoot. Just calm down," Remus said as he slowly started to unwrap the box, making certain to not rip the paper.

Sirius, growing more impatient with each passing minute, clamped his hands to the sides of his face, heavy breathing emanating from his mouth. Slowly, he leaned over Remus' shoulder, eyes widening in torture of waiting.

Remus, sensing something to his side, turned and shouted in surprise when he saw Sirius' face, nearly toppling out of his chair, "Merlin, Sirius! Calm down! I'm getting there!"

"But Moon—ny you're taking FOREVER!" Sirius whined.

Harry, along with quite a few others, snorted at this and had to hide his smile behind his hand as Sirius mock-glared at him.

"Wow, thanks, Padfoot!" Remus said, finally finished unwrapping the gift.

Sirius snapped back to his friend who was flipping through a photo album, "The Marauder's Greatest Moments! Ah, those were the good old days, weren't they?"

Remus turned the page and burst out laughing, "Oh, I remember this!"

The book was passed around and everyone saw a picture of seventeen year olds James and Sirius being chased by a mob of girls from all different Houses.

Lavender laughed as she passed the book on, "Geez, I heard you were popular, Sirius, but not that popular!"

"Yes, well, no one could resist Jamsie and me back in our Hogwarts days," Sirius said cockily, gaining a hit from Tali.

Remus snorted, "Yes, and the fact that you two had ingested love potion didn't hurt any either."

"Love potion? That's illegal!" Hermione said, disapprovingly.

"Hey, it wasn't our idea. It was an accident," Sirius said defensively.

"Why do I have a hard time believing that?" Ron joked, and Sirius glared at him.

"I'll go next," Harry said, standing up and walking over to Remus, "This is actually from Snape and me. It was my idea, but he helped me."

Harry conjured a tall, lean box and handed it to him, "Be careful, it's breakable."

Everyone looked on in interest as Remus, once again, slowly unwrapped the gift. This time, however, Sirius wasn't the only one on pins and needles about its contents. Everyone watched anxiously as Remus finished taking off the wrapping paper and opened the white box.

"What's this?" Remus asked, holding up a tall purple bottle with a liquid in it.

Harry smiled broadly, "That's a new potion Snape and I created. It's called Opium Dresigs."

Everyone stared at him, but it was McGonagall who spoke, "What does it do?"

Harry glanced at Dumbledore who smiled and him and nodded. Harry put a hand on Remus' shoulder, "Congratulations, Remus. One sip of that every day for a week and you can kiss the werewolf inside of you goodbye for good."

There wasn't a single mouth left unopened, with the exception of Harry and Dumbledore. Every single eye remained glued on Harry for an immeasurably long amount of time, until Harry finally laughed.

"Are you all going to just keep staring like that or are you going to say something," he asked, eyes twinkling.

"Harry...are you sure?" Tali asked breathlessly.

"Positive. Why do you think I spent so much time at Hogwarts this summer? It took us a while, but we did it," Harry smiled.

"You know what this means, don't you?" Hermione asked.

Sirius nodded, "Remus...you're free."

Remus, who had still been staring into space in shock, snapped back to reality and tears crept into the corners of his eyes.

He pulled Harry into a hug, "Thank you, Harry. Thank you so much!"

"Don't mention it, Remus. It's your birthday, you deserve it," Harry said before looking pointedly at him, "Just don't expect me to take any bull from Snape this year. I've had enough this past summer."

Fred leaned over to George, "This makes our gift look like crap now, doesn't it?"

George looked down at the box in his arms before shoving it into his twin's arms, "...You can give it to him."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Great! For all of you who have been waiting for this to come out, I'm sorry. I had started the story a while ago as you know, but my muse simply wasn't working. I finally gave into the obvious conclusion that it was because the story sucked. I had to rewrite everything. But here it is, so you can expect constant updates now!

AUTHOR'S NOTE 2: Oh yeah, if you haven't read the story this sprung from, Wanted: Love, it's shouldn't be necessary, but you might want to anyway to pass the time. But first, reviews are welcome!


	2. Ch2: Never Expected This

Wanted: A Happy Ending  
Ch2: Never Expected this...

"Ah, Harry. What can we help you with this fine afternoon?" Fred asked, elbowing his way past his twin who was helping another customer.

Harry smiled as Hedwig resettled on his shoulder. He met Fred half way through the store. Surprisingly, it hadn't been that difficult to make it through Diagon Alley. People seemed to finally be calming down, and he was once again able to wander about in semi-peace—providing that he kept well clear of reporters anyway.

"Just came to see if you two have come up with _anything_ _new_," he said pointedly.

Fred grinned mischievously, "Of course. Oi, George! Get over here!"

George glanced over at the two and motioned to the customer he was helping. In response, Fred motioned to Harry with a straining stare. George's eyes widened and he quickly finished helping the customer before dashing over to the two.

"Perfect timing, Harry. Fred and I just finished it this morning," George clapped his hands together excitedly.

Leading him to the back room, Harry couldn't help but wonder what went on there during the store's off hours. Jars and bottles filled with everything from bat eyeballs to highly concentrated, aged urine from a Centaur's bladder lined the shelves so that nearly all the bright red walls from view. From more than one position in the room odd croaks and bubbling sounds echoed out from the jars with more undistinguishable contents.

"I just hope it doesn't blow up in my face like last time," Harry muttered.

"Don't worry. We knocked out all the bugs," George said, smiling as he picked up a rubber chicken, "Gotta love Muggles. Where do they come up with this stuff?"

Harry chose to ignore the question both obviously expected him to answer and, instead, nodding at the phoenix on his shoulder, "All the same, I brought Hedwig in case of any 'accidents.'"

"That hurts, Harry. That hurts deep down," Fred said, clamping his hand to his heart.

Harry rolled his eyes, "Let's see it then."

George cleared his throat before dramatically pulling a red cloth off a lump in the middle of the table, "Voila! Here, Harry, is the one thing that's going to put us on the map!"

"You're already on the map," Harry remarked offhandedly as he bent down to the table, "Everyone in England knows who you are."

"Yes, but now we're," Fred and George stroke a pose and spoke simultaneously, "Going global!"

Harry snorted at them as he picked up the small ball from the middle of the table, tossing it from one hand to the other, "So this is going to put you on the map, huh? It's smaller than the other one."

"Of course! It's easier to conceal this way." Fred caught the ball before Harry had the chance to catch it again, "I wouldn't do that, though, if I were you. You wouldn't want to set it off."

Nodding, he took back the seemingly ordinary black ball before proceeding to look it over, "Of course. . .what's this one do?"

"Same as the other one. . .only this one won't blow up," Fred said, taking it again, "Observe."

He threw the ball at Hedwig. It burst open right before it hit her. Thick, blackish-gray smoke filled the room. Hedwig's cried out rather loudly and Harry stumbled through the smoke trying to find her, but only succeeding in running into the table. He coughed as the smoke entered his lungs and his eyes stung terribly, only growing more frustrated when he was unable to banish it.

Fred and George could be heard stumbling around as well, arguing with each other about who messed up the ingredients. It wasn't for another five minutes until the smoke finally died down. When it did, Harry finally spotted Hedwig, stuck to the floor in what appeared to be a sticky pink paste. Harry walked over to her and tried to use his magic to release her, only to find that, once again, it didn't work.

He turned to Fred and George, "What the hell did you two use?"

The two, who had still been arguing, stopped and turned to him, "Oh, sorry about that, Harry. I guess it wasn't ready after all. . ."

"No, really?" Harry asked sarcastically.

George laughed nervously, "Guess we didn't work out all the bugs after all, huh?"

"Can you just release Hedwig before she gets even more angry?" Harry asked, poking at the pink paste only to find his finger stuck as well, "What the hell is this anyway?"

"It our patented Gooey Gunk," Fred said proudly.

"Gooey Gunk?" Harry asked, trying to pull away, but only succeeding in getting his arm stuck, "Get us out of this!"

The two looked at each other, "Er. . .right. Fred, what did you do with that solution?"

"Me?" Fred vigorously shook his head, "No way, George. You're the last one who had it."

"Did I?" George asked, "No, I do believe—"

Hedwig was apparently growing tired of waiting, however, and gave a shrill caw, batting her one free wing. Unfortunately, the only thing this succeeded in doing was knocking Harry face forward into the substance. He gave a muffled shout as his face disappeared into the pink.

Fred and George, far from being worried, broke out into laughter as they watched Harry fail his one arm around desperately.

"What's that, Harry?"

"What'd you say? Sorry, we couldn't catch that."

They moved closer and were almost near enough to flag him when the last thing they were expecting happened.

"STOP GOOFING OFF AND GET US OUT OF HERE! I CAN'T BREATHE!" Hedwig screeched at them in a voice oddly reminiscent of her raven-haired companion.

The twins jumped back, their freckles sticking out more against their slightly paled skin, "Harry?"

"YES, NOW GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Harry's voiced boomed out of the phoenix's beak.

"Bloody hell, George," Fred whispered, "That stuff switched their bodies!"

"You know what this means, don't you?" George asked, breathless.

"We're going global!" they shouted in unison.

They broke out into laughter, dancing around each other in circles. "I told you putting the calluses from the giants in was a good idea!"

"As much as I hate to burst your bubble, you did no such thing. I'm channeling my voice through Hedwig seeing as how MY BLOODY FACE IS STUCK IN THIS GOO!"

"—Gunk, Harry—" George cautiously interjected.

"WHATEVER!" Hedwig shook her head irritably, "Just get us out of here!"

"Right."

And the two set about wandering the backroom in search of the solvent. Hedwig's eyes followed the two around unblinkingly until finally Fred walked over to a cabinet and dug around in it for a moment before pulling out a spray bottle, "Here we go."

Hedwig/Harry groaned, "Are you sure this stuff will work?"

"Have a little faith in us, Harry," Fred said, as he started to spray the solution on the Gooey Gunk.

The pink paste quickly started to fade away, but, apparently, the two substances shouldn't have been mixed, for as soon as they touched, an explosion occurred. Harry and Hedwig were thrown across the room into the wall.

Fred and George looked at each other nervously, "Er. . .perhaps we should work on that, too."

Now that she was released, Hedwig cried out angrily and zoomed over to the twins. She started pecking at them in a less than loving nature and scratching at them with her talons. Fred and George shouted and ran out of the room, Hedwig chasing after them.

"Ah! Killer phoenix on the loose! Run for your lives!"

Harry groaned and stood up, rubbing his back which was rather sore. He shook his head and took after the three. Back in the actual store area, several customers were staring towards the door with their mouths open. Putting two and two together, Harry rushed outside. Not but two steps outside the door, however, he bumped into someone.

The two fell to the ground and Harry shook his head again, "This is really starting to get old."

He looked over to the person he bumped into and smiled. A girl around his age with black hair and blue eyes was looking around, a bit dazed, her packages strewn about her all over the ground.

"Hello," he said, standing up and offering her his hand, "I don't remember seeing you around here before."

The girl stood up and brushed off her green skirt before straightening up and looking at Harry, "Just moved here."

"Where from?"

The girl bent down and started picking up her packages, "Ireland."

Harry laughed and helped her pick up her packages, "You don't sound Irish."

"Well, I suppose that would be because I'm actually from England, wouldn't it?" she caught his eyes for a moment and nodded, "We moved there when I was little."

"Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm Harry," Harry said, extending his hand.

The girl breathed a laugh, gave him a half-smirk, half-grin, and shook his hand, "Nyoka. Just Nyo, though, if you don't mind."

Harry nodded, "Are you going to be going to Hogwarts?"

She nodded as she took the last of her packages from Harry and stood up, "Seventh year."

"Really? Me too," Harry smiled.

Nyo smiled, "At least I'll know someone there."

Harry laughed, "If you get in Gryffindor you'll know loads of people. I wouldn't worry too much about it, though. Everyone's pretty nice...except the Slytherins that is."

"Really?" she asked, fumbling as a parcel nearly fell from her grasp, "That's where my parents want me to be."

"Slytherin?" Harry asked uncertainly, "They must not know very much about the House then."

"No. No, I suppose they wouldn't," she answered thoughtfully. "Oh, no. That's alright," she added as Harry moved to help her with her packages, "I've sidetracked you long enough."

Harry shrugged and took some packages anyway, "I'm not doing anything special. Besides, I remember what it was like back in First year. It's a lot of stuff. Good thing I had Hagrid with me, I'll tell you that."

"Hagrid? As in Rubeus?" she asked, reluctantly consenting as Harry grabbed her cauldron.

He grinned broadly, "You've heard of him?"

Nyo frowned, "Yes…isn't he a half-breed."

Harry's grin fell just as quickly as it had arrived, "His mum was a giantess if that's what you mean. You have a problem with that?"

Nyo shrugged, "It's why we moved to Ireland to begin with."

"You moved because Hagrid's half-giant?" Harry asked skeptically.

"No, not exactly anyway. …My dad was killed by a giant."

Harry's defensive fell, and he found his face heating up, "Oh. …Sorry. I shouldn't've—"

"Don't worry about it," Nyo cut him off, "I don't even remember him. I'm sorry if I offended you, though. I'm sure Mr. Hagrid is a great man."

Despite his better judgment, Harry laughed, causing Nyo to eye him, "What?"

Harry shook his head. "Nothing. No, really," he added after noting her cocked brow, "I've just never heard Hagrid called 'Mr.' before is all. And between you and me, I think it's best that way."

A slight tinge appeared on Nyo's cheeks, though Harry pretended not to notice. "So," he said, shifting the weight of his load, "where are we off to?"

"Flourish and Blotts. . .I'm supposed to meet my mum there," Nyo told him dryly.

"Alright, off to the Flourish and Blotts it is!" Harry said dramatically.

Nyo laughed but quickly stopped as she spotted something over his shoulder. She frowned and looked down.

"What?" Harry asked, turning to see a stingy looking couple hurrying over to them.

"Nyoka Rill! What have we told you about talking to strangers?" the man asked angrily.

"I'm sorry, father. We just bumped into each other, and Harry was—" Nyo started.

Harry looked at the man Nyo called "father" curiously. Hadn't she said her father had been killed? Before he could put any further thought into this, however, his attention was drawn to the couple who were goggling at him.

"Harry?" Nyo's father and the woman, whom Harry guessed was her mother, spun around and faltered when they saw him. He sighed inwardly.

'Great,' he thought sarcastically, 'Here comes another big scene.'

"Harry Potter!" the woman shouted before turning to her husband, her eyes brimming, "Quincy! It's him! I never thought I'd see this day!"

Nyo's eyes swarmed back to him, "You're Harry Potter?"

Harry shrugged, "That would be me. What about you, I thought you said your dad was dead."

She obviously didn't mean for him to notice, but he caught her cast Quincy a nasty look before responding with the utmost bitterness, "Stepfather."

Harry nodded in understanding, opened his mouth to say something, and was cut off by the topic of their conversation as he snatched the packages out of Harry's hands, "Come, Nyo. We're behind schedule."

"But—" she started.

"Don't question me, Nyo! I said come!"

Harry was strong reminded of Lucius Malfoy, but he shook the thought out of his head as he saw the young girl being dragged off by her parents.

"See you at Hogwarts!" he called after her. She turned and smiled at him before she disappeared behind a crowd of people.

Harry thought for a moment. However, before he could develop this thought any more, in came a distraction.

"Harry! Call off your killer bird!" Fred shouted as they dashed back towards their store.

Harry smiled as he saw the numerous holes poked in their clothes. He laughed, but nevertheless called his bird, "Hedwig, I think you've punished them enough for one day."

Hedwig looked at him and pecked at the pair of them once more before flying over and landing respectfully on Harry's shoulder. Fred and George cautiously walked over, being very mindful of Hedwig's piercing gaze.

"Thanks for that, Harry," George panted, exhausted from the run.

Harry laughed again and waved his hand, restoring his friends' robes, much to Hedwig's displeasure, "Serves you right for practicing your pranks on her."

"Alright, alright. We won't do it again. . ." George said before giving an over dramatic bow, "We owe you our scalps! Is there anything we can do for you?"

"Yeah, make sure next time you have it right," Harry said, rolling his eyes.

"Right-o!" Fred saluted him, "By the way, Harry…I don't suppose you might be willing to assist us with coming up with a product that—"

"I am not going to help you switch people's bodies." Harry said firmly.

Fred hastily shook his head, "Not people, Harry. It would only be one person. The idea of putting them into an animal is just too tempting. It'll—"

"Put you on the map, I know," Harry nodded, "But your mum would kill me. Sorry, guys. You're on your own this time."

Sighing in resignation, the twins nodded, and George pulled out a small box, "Understandable. Mum can be a bit of a handful sometimes. But as of now, Fred and I would like to present you with a little something."

"It's not going to explode, is it?" Harry asked, glancing at the two.

"No. . .not until you activate it anyway," Fred said.

Harry opened the box and saw a little black ball identical to the one from before, "Why are you giving me a deficient prank?"

"Because," George said, "You might be able to figure out what's wrong quicker than us."

Harry sighed and put the box in his robes carefully, "If I have any time this year."

"You'll have loads of time!" they chorused.

"Not if Snape has his way," Harry said with premature irritation, "I don't think he's quite gotten around me following him around Hogwarts all summer."

"No braver a lad could have done it, Harry. You're lucky to have survived," the twins agreed.

Harry felt something on his hip start to vibrate. He looked down and noticed that his wizard beeper Sirius had given him was going off.

"They need me back at the house," he said, reading off the beeper.

The twins nodded, "See you then, Harry...and remember. That ball is our little secret. No one can know about it until it's ready."

Harry promised that he wouldn't show it to anyone and bid the two farewell before apparating back to Marauder Manor, as their home was lovingly called. At first touch down on the grounds, Hedwig became noticeably excited. She took off of his shoulder and pulled him towards the house.

"What's up, Hedwig?" he asked, allowing himself to be pulled along.

Suddenly, Fawkes and Adish—the son of the two elder phoenixes—flew out of the house to greet them. Harry smiled as Hedwig left him to join her family. He would never forget the look on the Ministry's face when they found out that the population of phoenixes had gone up by one. Phoenixes might not ever die, but they were also incapable of reproduction, so the fact that Adish now existed was nothing short of a miracle.

Of course, they could only speculate as to how it happened. Personally, Harry thought it had something to do with the fact that Hedwig had, at one point, actually been an owl. Less than a year ago she had transformed before his very eyes in just enough time to save he and Sirius from a very unpleasant death. Hagrid, with whom he most heartily agreed, hypothesized that since she _had_ once been an owl—a species that is quite capable of reproduction—the fact that she was now a phoenix should have nothing to do with it.

It shouldn't be hard to guess that the moment this hit the media Harry had been bombarded with requests for either him to turn family owls into phoenixes or allow Hedwig and Fawkes to reproduce again and to sell the offspring. Likewise, it should be quite obvious that Harry had immediately made one of his rare public statements, announcing that he would take no part whatsoever in creating more phoenixes. As far as he was concerned, there was a reason the species couldn't reproduce, and wasn't about to ignore it.

Breaking his sight from the three who disappeared into the blinding sun, Harry looked toward the manor. If Fawkes was here, that could mean only one thing…

"Dumbledore."

He smiled. He didn't know why his headmaster was visiting, but he intended to find out. Harry hurried into the house and heard voices in the parlor. He headed in that direction and the voices became louder.

"That's great! Now we can all work together!"

"I don't know. The board must be losing their minds if they're going to hire you, Padfoot."

"Hey! I'll be good at it! Flying and impressionable minds! Two of my favorite things!"

"Hello," Harry said as he came to a stop in the doorway.

Dumbledore and Remus were sitting in chairs near the fireplace, and Sirius and Tali were occupying the love seat across from them. Fawkes, Hedwig, and Adish were perched on the back of the couch. All humans rose when they saw Harry enter the room, and Hedwig flew over, landing on his shoulder.

"Good evening," they all greeted him.

"You certainly took your time getting back," Sirius commented, sitting back down.

"We had a little mishap at the Wheezes, Padfoot, give me a break," Harry said, referring to the twin's store as he rolled his eyes and sat on the couch with the birds.

"Well, Harry, since you're back, we have a bit of good news!" Tali smiled brightly.

"I know, you're all going to be working together," Harry nodded.

"Yes, but where?" Tali smiled wider.

Harry thought for a moment and shrugged, "I don't know."

Sirius, Tali, and Remus looked at each other and smiled broadly, "HOGWARTS!"

Harry's face lit up, "Really? That's great!"

"Isn't it just?" Remus laughed.

"What are you two teaching?" Harry asked Remus and Sirius.

"I'll be taking over Flying for Madame Hooch...she's retiring," Sirius explained.

"And I'll be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts again," Remus smiled.

Harry looked at him, "What's Tali going to do then?"

"Transfiguration," Tali said promptly.

"And before you ask," Dumbledore spoke up, "Minerva is being transferred over to the Ministry."

"Oh," Harry said before smiling again, "This is great!"

"Indeed, I've just gotten the go ahead from the Board," Dumbledore said.

"So that's why you're here," Harry said, understanding.

"Yes and no," Dumbledore said.

Harry looked at him, "What then?"

Dumbledore looked at the other three adults in the room who all nodded at him with straight faces, "Why don't you two talk for a little bit. We'll go start dinner."

Tali pulled Sirius and Remus out of the room, leaving the two in peace.

"Harry," Dumbledore started, "...Let us go for a walk."

Harry nodded and they both stood up. Hedwig and Fawkes started to follow them, but Dumbledore held up his hand and the two birds resettled on their perch. As he stepped out of the house, Harry was temporarily blinded by the setting sun. A couple blinks later, however, his vision had returned and he let Dumbledore lead the way.

They headed out past the barn, towards the pond. Once there, Dumbledore took a seat on a bench over looking the water. Harry sat next to him and the cool air from the blue liquid brushed against his face in welcoming breezes. It was most like being at the beach...only without the sand.

"How can I help you, Professor?" Harry asked after a long moment of silence.

"I have been offered the position as the new Minister of Magic—" Dumbledore started.

"That's great, Professor!" Harry exclaimed.

"Yes, it would be, but I cannot simply up and leave my position at Hogwarts without a suitable replacement, now can I?"

Harry wondered where this was going, "So you're not taking the job?"

He stood and scooped up a handful of pebbles from the water's edge before tossing them, individually, into the water.

Dumbledore looked ready to stand up and start walking again, but stopped himself and, instead, leaned against the back of the bench, "I didn't say that."

"So you've found a replacement?" Harry asked, turning to him.

"In a manner of speaking."

"Who is it?"

"That's just the thing, Harry. I haven't discussed it with him yet," Dumbledore said.

Harry thought for a moment before returning to tossing the pebbles, "Why are you telling me, Professor?"

"Albus will do, Harry."

"Er...I'm not sure I'd feel that comfortable—"

Dumbledore laughed and raised his hand to stop Harry from going any further, "How about Dumbledore then?"

Harry looked as though he still wasn't sure, but nodded none the less, "I suppose."

"Wonderful! Now, back to answering your question: I need your opinion."

"About what?" Harry asked curiously.

"Well, Harry. I have a bit of a favor to ask of you," Dumbledore said pensively, as though he was trying to figure out how best to word it.

Harry nodded him on and Dumbledore continued, "I have discussed it with the rest of the teachers and the Ministry Board...we all feel that you would do a fine job in replacing me."

The pebbles in his hand dropped to the ground and his eyes bugged out of his head. Had he heard him right?

"What?" he sputtered disbelievingly.

Dumbledore smiled, "We were wondering if you would like the position of Headmaster of Hogwarts."

"But. . .but Pro—er Dumbledore, I'm only seventeen! I haven't even graduated yet!" Harry declared, exasperated. Him? Headmaster? Of _Hogwarts_? It was absurd!

"Is that a problem, Harry?" Dumbledore asked, "You are the most powerful wizard to ever exist. Surely you don't expect that you'll learn anything if you were to return as a student?"

Harry had to admit, that was probably true, but still, Headmaster? The idea was even more absurd than allowing Sirius to be a Professor.

"But I don't know anything about being Headmaster. I'd probably just screw everything up."

Dumbledore smiled at him, "I believe you would do fine. You have the trust of every single person that will be in the school, staff and students. I'm certain that no one will object to you taking over. And if you have any questions, I would only be an owl away. Not to mention the assistance you would get from the staff."

'The staff...' Harry thought, "But what about Snape?"

"Yes, he was a bit upset when your name came up. I believe that is why he did not come to Remus' party. I believe he is trying to postpone the inevitable as long as possible."

"Funny," Harry remarked offhandedly, "I would have figured that had more to do with Padfoot being there."

Dumbledore smiled, "Indeed. Back to the point at hand, though: Harry, I believe Severus, too, thinks you would be an outstanding Headmaster."

"But..."

"I can see that you might need time to think it over. Why don't you send me an owl with your decision…and I hate rush you, but I'll need your response within the week."

Harry, still a bit overwhelmed, nodded dumbly. Dumbledore smiled and stood up, "Let us be getting back to the house. Unless I'm much mistaken, those three could use a bit of our help."

Harry, snapping out of his disbelief, laughed. Yes, meal preparation had always been a bit of hassle inside Marauder Manor. Little did he know just how much of a hassle it was that particular day…

"AHHH! TALI, REMUS! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!" Sirius screamed running around the kitchen, his robe sleeve on fire.

Remus and Tali were chasing frantically after him. Remus had a fire extinguisher in his hands and Tali had a metal spatula to "beat it out" as she explained loudly through the commotion—though this hardly seemed to calm Sirius in the least.

Beyond this, the counters were piled high in dirty dishes that were dripping their filth all over the place. A puddle of batter, from what Harry and Dumbledore could only guess, continued to grow as the tipped bowl persistently dripped more and more to the floor. Sirius slipped in this puddle and fell to the floor with a loud thud. Remus and Tali finally caught up to him.

"Hold him, still, Tali!" Remus said, fumbling with the extinguisher.

Tali obeyed and held Sirius firmly to the floor. Remus pushed the button and white, messy foam flew out of the nozzle, coating Sirius and Tali until they appeared to be sloppy constructed snowmen. It didn't stop there, though. It quickly became apparent that this was a wizard extinguisher, for it wrenched itself out of Remus' grasped floated into the air. It turned around slowly before squirting foam at everyone in the room.

The occupants of the room shouted in protest and rushed to find cover. However, it seemed that the extinguisher was always one step ahead. No matter where they tried to hide, whether it be under the table, behind a chair, in the pantry, wherever, it was seemed able to anticipate their next move.

"The guy said this was supposed to be a well-tempered extinguisher!" Remus' undistinguishable form shouted from behind a chair.

"Harry! Can't you do something?" Sirius asked.

"Not if I can't even see where the damn thing is!" Harry said, trying to squint through the foam that covered his glasses.

For another ten minutes the madness went on until, finally, the extinguisher ran out of foam. It fell with a thud to the floor and the five cautiously poked their heads out from the hiding places.

"Is it dead?" Harry asked, looking in the completely wrong direction.

"I think so..." Sirius said, poking it with his foot.

It gave a dry gasp but did nothing more. Harry wiped his glasses clean in time to see everyone come out from their hiding places. Not one of them distinguishable.

Dumbledore chuckled, "At least the fire's out."

"Hey, Harry, you still have some foam in your ear," Tali said, cleaning it out with her finger.

"Thanks," Harry said, sitting down at a vacant table in a Muggle restaurant, Big Al's Burger Barn.

After cleaning up the mess in the kitchen, which went by rather quickly due to Harry's magical abilities, and the rush for the showers, it had become decided unanimously that they would go out to eat. After bidding Dumbledore goodbye, the quartet had set about looking for a restaurant where they could remain unnoticed for the night.

Tali had requested that they find someplace that held live entertainment. They had ended up at Big Al's which held an open mic for karaoke every night. At the moment, a trio of rather large construction workers was singing the Muggle song, "War, what is it good for?" by some group that Harry didn't know. They weren't very good and he did his best to block them out.

"Maybe next time we should just use a Muggle extinguisher," he added as he took a bite out of his cheeseburger.

"Aw, what's the fun in those?" Sirius asked with a smile.

"Nothing...they're safer, though," Harry said pointedly.

"I don't care what Hermione says, first thing tomorrow, we're getting ourselves a couple of House elves," Remus said, shaking his head.

"About time, too. We have to be the last people in the wizarding world that don't already have them," Sirius said.

"So, Harry, you never told us about your talk with Dumbledore," Tali changed the subject.

"Oh," Harry said, putting down his burger, "that. He wants me to be the new Headmaster at Hogwarts."

"We know that! What did you say?" Sirius asked anxiously.

"I didn't."

"You didn't what?"

"I didn't tell him anything," Harry said and then added after getting blank looks, "I'm supposed to think about it and tell him by the end of the week."

"What's there to think about?" Sirius asked, astounded, "You get a chance to be the big cahoona!"

"The what?" all three of his companions chorused.

"The big cahoona. You know: the big cheese, the mighty ruler of all!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Yeah, and miss the last year of Hogwarts," Harry said, "Besides, I don't know anything about running a school."

"We'll be there with you, Harry," Tali said supportively.

"I don't know."

Sirius hunched his shoulders, "Aw, come on, Harry! Think of the perks! You get to boss Snape around, no classes, you get to boss Snape around, no NEWTS, you get to boss Snape around, you can make sure that Gryffindor wins the House Cup—"

"Sirius!" the three shouted at their friend.

"What? You could!" he exclaimed

They all rolled their eyes and shook their heads in what appeared to be a planned procedure.

"Go on, Harry, at least think about it," Remus suggested.

"I was planning to," Harry said as the trio of construction workers finally finished their song.

All four at their table joined in the tremendous applause being given. Harry didn't know about anyone else, but he was clapping _because_ they had finished.

A stout man walked up onto the stage, "Wasn't that—er—entertaining!"

The room gave an unenthusiastic mumbling of agreement and the construction workers bowed on their way back to their seats.

The man cleared his throat, "Yes, well. . .next on the mic is none other than our favorite returning talent. . .Serpentine!"

"Serpentine?" Remus asked as the man walked off stage and the lights began to dim.

"You had to have live entertainment, didn't you, Tals?" Sirius asked as the music started up.

Tali shrugged, "Oh shut it, Sirius. It's a catchy tune, anyway."

Sirius cast a gaze at Harry and Remus who shrugged and turned their attention back to the stage. A man with slick black hair was facing away from the audience. He was wearing faded blue jeans and a Muggle dress coat with a pink feather boa draped over his arms. He was waving his hips back and forth, very Diana Ross style, as he began to sing.

Tali turned to the three, "Does he sound familiar to you?"

"...A bit, doesn't he?" asked Remus.

At that moment, the man decided to turn around. The four fell back in their seats, well, three did. Sirius went as far as to fall out of his chair and down to the floor.

"Is that… ?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Snape?" Harry finished, eyes bugging out.

As they were to the side, no one seemed to notice their outburst of laughter over the music as Snape started the next verse:

"**_You can't hurry love  
No, you'll just have to wait  
She said love don't come easy  
It's a game of give and take  
You can't hurry love  
No, you'll just have to wait  
You gotta trust, give it time  
No matter how long it takes_**"

By now, Harry and Tali had joined Sirius on the floor, laughing hysterically. Remus, on the other hand, was staring, open mouthed at the man on the stage. Never, in all their years of acquaintance, had any of them ever hoped to be given something this good to hold over the Slytherin's head.

Sirius, on several times, very nearly rushed the stage to make Snape aware of his presence, but, in all cases, the other three had managed to detain him. It wasn't likely that they would ever get another chance to see Snape singing and dancing. . .and in such a manner at that.

Snape was up and dancing again. At one point in his show, he took off the coat he was wearing and tossed it into the crowd. To the complete bewilderment of the quartet sitting at the table, several girls of different ages fought over whom would keep it.

"What did you do to him this summer, Harry?" Remus asked, head tilting slightly in disgusted amusement.

Harry shook his head, "I don't know…but remind me to do it again next time he acting particularly foul."

Snape now stood in the center of the stage, his dancing toned down to a slight swaying of the hips and hand motions that complimented the song well. And Harry couldn't help but wonder just how often Snape did this:

"**_No, love, love don't come easy  
But I keep on waiting, anticipating  
For that soft voice to talk to me at night  
For some tender arms to hold me tight_**"

"Ron'll never believe me," Harry laughed, "Where's Colin when you need him?"

When Snape finished the song, he bowed deeply. The applause was tremendous; it even threatened to knock the building down. However, it was nothing compared to the laughter that echoed out of one small corner of the room.

Sirius could no longer be held back, he cupped his hands to his mouth, "Hey, Snape! Great show!"

Snape, who had been signing autographs, froze stiff at the voice. He turned ever so slowly and paled dramatically—quite a feat for a man of his complexion—at the sight of them. He attempted to escape the building, but Sirius had already made it over to him, dragging the rest of his friends with him.

"What are you doing here?" the Slytherin professor asked venomously, casting a particularly nasty glare at Harry as if it was his fault for bringing everyone there.

Sirius smiled wickedly, "Better questions. Who's Serpentine, and what were you thinking?"

Snape glared at all of them in turn, "You will NOT mention this ever again!"

"And what exactly are you going to do to stop us?" Harry smiled, he couldn't imagine saving something this good for himself.

"I could give you detention until you're too old to—" Snape started.

Sirius cut him off, grabbing his shirt and shoving him against the wall, "Listen here, Snape! You so much as put one toe out of line this year with Harry or any of the other Gryffindors and I'll see to it that your ass is sent from here to Timbuktu!"

"Temper, temper, Black," Snape said, pushing Sirius away from him, "I will treat Mr. Potter no differently than any of my other students."

"Bullshit you won't! You..." Sirius got a look in his eyes and Harry instantly knew he was up to something, "...You won't have to worry about that anyway, Snape. Harry's not going to be a student this year."

"What?" Snape and Harry echoed each other.

"You know what I'm talking about, Snape. Harry's been chosen as the next Headmaster of Hogwarts...over you if I'm not mistaken."

Snape glared menacingly at Harry. Obviously he hadn't expected Harry to agree to do so. Harry, on the other hand, was staring at Sirius, open mouthed.

"Sirius," he whispered feverishly in his godfather's ear, "I never said I was going to—"

"Shh, Harry," Sirius cut him off and turned to Snape, "Don't just stand there, Snape. Show some manners, man."

"What?" Snape asked, still disbelieving.

"Congratulate Harry," Sirius spelled it out.

Snape's lip curled visibly, "I'll see you at Hogwarts...Headmaster..."

The disdain in his voice was undeniable. He quickly turned on his heel and stormed out of the restaurant, scowling potently. Once he was gone, Harry turned to Sirius, "What was that all about?"

"What?" Sirius asked innocently.

Harry looked at him, arms crossed, "I haven't decided yet if I'm going to do it or not."

Sirius shrugged and Tali hit him, "That was awfully insensitive, Sirius. Now, when Snape finds out you lied, he's going to have even more to hold against Harry."

"Oh, but you'll decide to do it," Sirius told Harry confidently.

"I don't know, Sirius. I've already told you. I don't know anything about being in charge...let alone of an entire school," Harry said, sighing heavily.

"I wouldn't say that, Harry," Remus said, "You were in charge of the entire school and then some last year when Voldemort attacked."

"That was different," Harry said and they looked at him, "I mean, I wasn't really thinking about it—"

"Then there you go! Just don't think about it!" Sirius exclaimed, quite pleased with himself for having solved the problem.

"Sirius..." Harry started.

"Why don't you just let him think about it, Sirius?" Remus asked, stepping in.

Harry cast Remus a thankful smile and Sirius reluctantly nodded before apologizing to Harry who brushed it off. The four returned to their table to find their food cold.

"Figures," Tali said, poking at her hamburger with a French fry.

"Come and get 'em! Fresh off the recorder! Tapes of tonight's performances!" said a man, walking around with a box of Muggle video tapes in his hands.

Sirius' face lit up, "I'll be right back."

Author's Note: Yay! Chapter two is up! Hopefully it's better than the first one! Lots of info to digest, I know, but before you start, why not take a break from reading and write me a nice little review? Thanks for reading! Oh yeah, before I forget, new members on my mailing list are always welcome! Just say so in your review!

Disclaimer: Wow! I put a disclaimer at the bottom of a story for once! Sorry, didn't want you to know I was going to use one. . .anywho, the song's called 'You Can't Hurry Love' by Diana Ross. . .it amused me anyway. . .picturing Snape singing it. . .


	3. Ch3: The Verdict

Rachel A. Prongs: Interesting? Is that good or bad? . . .Oh well, thanks for the review!

Danny's Girl: Yeah. . .I was kinda worrying about putting the Snape part in there. . .thought it might make everyone forget about the other parts of the chapter. . .oh well. . .read your story. I like it! 'Course you probably already know, 'cause I reviewed. . .yay! Another fanfic parody writer!

Angelic Demon16: Thanks! I do hope that it's better than the first chapter. I know that one was a bit rushed. . .

Rei: Lol, yeah. . .I heard that song and I instantly pictured Snape singing it. . .I had to fit it in somewhere. Besides, it leaves me some leeway for later on in the story. What do I mean, you ask? Oh, you'll find out. . .

Ears91:Smiles: Great! Another person who likes it! I was a bit worried that people would think it too out of character for Snape. . .I know JKR would never do it. . .but hey, it's my story! Thanks for agreeing!

Brainwashed: Thank you! And it's only just begun, too!

EriEka: Thanks! I'm sorry I wasn't there when you IM'd me, but I was a little busy working on this chapter. . .thanks anyway!

Hedowl5: Lol, okay, if I have time, I'll make Snape rap. . .that might be a bit scary, though. . .:Smiles: Should Harry be Headmaster? I thought it was a nice idea, but I'm not sure as of the moment. . .

Lady Reaper of the Shadows: Sorry, tell your sister I didn't mean it. . .And as for the tapes, they'll be on sale in a week for fifty bucks. . .lol, sorry. Sirius took 'em all. Maybe you can ask him for one.

Kim: Yeah. . .I'm kinda wondering what people liked better. Singing Snape or elf Snape? Women's intuition? Did I say that? I don't remember. . .oh well. . .thanks for the review!

Amy: Lol, thanks! Should he really? Well, I've already made up my mind about that, and, as you can probably tell my the title of this chapter, I've decided to share with you what's going on. . .

Istalksiriusonweekends: Have Harry sing. . .:Smiles and looks around nervously: Hehehe. . .maybe. . .if you're good. . .

Charlie: Yay! I love writing humor! I never think I'm too terribly good at it, though, SO glad you think so:Smiles: Groovy! I love that word! Well. . .you'll just have to read this chapter and find out, huh? Yay! Go ahead!

Ladee Sakura Evenstar Night: Well. . .perhaps this chapter won't be more humorous. . .but, yes, this story has many more laughs ahead. . .:Grins evilly: You have NO idea what I have planned. . . And what's wrong? You think the idea of Harry being Headmaster is stupid? Whoa, I'm confused. . .

Matakishi Hirata-san: Glad you liked it! And good news! You don't have to wait any longer! Here's more! Yay! Thanks for your patience!

Wanted: A Happy Ending  
Ch3: The Verdict

_Ssso let me get thisss ssstraight. They want you to take the mossst powerful job in the ssschool, and you don't want to do it?_

"Well. . .kind of. . ."

_What'sss the problem?_

Harry sighed and rolled onto his back. A green garden snake slithered onto his stomach and stared at Harry.

_I asssked you a quessstion, Harry_

Harry rolled his eyes. He should have known better than to ask a snake. All they cared about was power and how to obtain it. It's not like he had anyone else to ask, though. Sirius kept telling him to do it, Remus and Tali said it was his decision, and there was no way he was about to ask his other friends, enough people knew as it was.

"I always manage to get myself squared out. . .I just want a normal life for once," Harry broke off and shook his head, "I suppose I should know better by now, though."

_Perhapsss you were dessstined for greater thingsss. Maybe you ssshould accept thingsss asss they are and take the posssition_

Harry sighed again. Yes, he was better off asking a wall what to do than a snake. He sat up and the snake fell into his lap, "That doesn't help me much."

_It ssseemsss to me that you are only looking for the anssswer you want to hear_

Harry stood up, "Just forget it."

The snake slithered up his leg, _You can talk to my kind. You dessstroyed the evil one. You have the trussst of all your kind. You are dessstined for great thingsss. Why not just accept it?_

"I just want to be normal—"

_You_ _can never be normal. Learn to live with i_t

Harry looked to his shoulder where the snake resided, "You're not being very helpful, you know?"

_I_ _am jussst giving you a sssnake'sss point of view. Take it or leave it_

"Again, not very helpful," Harry said, running a hand through his hair.

The snake moved to Harry's other shoulder and slithered its tongue in Harry's ear. Harry swatted the snake's head away, "Stop it."

_I can sssee that you care not of my opinion_

"Oh, don't be like that," Harry rolled his eyes.

The snake slithered to the ground and a few feet away from Harry before turning around, _You are an extraordinary human, Harry. I don't sssee why you try ssso hard to hide your giftsss. It would only be another year until you graduated anyway, not much of a difference if you asssk me_

With that, the snake disappeared into the brush. Harry stared after it.

'I don't try to hide my gifts!' he thought indignantly. But even as he thought this, he knew it to be untrue. He had never liked the spotlight, and anything that would make him stand out more…

It didn't take himself long to ascertain himself that he did. . .and quite often, too. He groaned and shook his head. He mentally wrote a quick note and sent it to Sirius, telling him he had gone on a walk and not to worry. Harry quickly apparated to Godric's Hallow. He walked through the streets of the town, smiling politely to everyone who acknowledged him.

In minimal time, Harry had managed to reach his goal. A large house stood in the shade of many trees. A beautiful garden of all kinds of flowers decorated the front yard. In the front, much to Harry's dismay, were large statues of all the Potters.

He didn't mind gazing upon the faces of his parents, he never did, but it perturbed him to no end to have his face, at least five times larger than the original, staring back at him every time he came to visit his old house. He remembered all too well the first day he had seen it.

Flashback

_"Where are we going?" Harry asked as he ran into yet another tree, "Ow! The least you could do was watch where you're leading me." _

"Sorry, Harry. . .it's just a bit further," Lavender said, pulling him along.

Harry tripped on a large rock and fell into her, "Lavender, why doesn't someone else lead me for a while?"

He couldn't see her, due to a blindfold over his eyes, but he heard her huff off. Someone else took his hand and Harry instantly knew who it was, "When'd you get here, Sirius?"

"A few minutes ago," Sirius said as they started to move again.

"We're here!" Ron announced off to the side.

"Finally! It's about time!" Harry said as his hand was dropped, "Can I take off this stupid blindfold already?"

He imagined that they had looked at each other, for they all shouted to go ahead at the same time. Harry reached up and pulled the bandana off. The warm summer air felt marvelous against his eyes, though almost immediately wished the blindfold was still on.

"What the hell is that?" he exclaimed in horror.

A humongous statue of him_ was staring right back at him. It appeared to have been just recently constructed, for it was still shiny in the bright sunlight. _

"It's you, Harry. I would have thought you could figure that out," Ron smiled, obviously just managing to hold back his laughter.

Harry looked at him, "I know_ it's me. But where the hell did it come from?" _

Everyone laughed and Harry crossed his arms, "I don't know what's so funny. Where do people get off doing something like that without my permission?"

The laughter died down a bit and Harry looked between them, "What?"

"Er. . .Harry. . ." Hermione started, walking over to him, "You were, um, you were dead when they built it."

She whispered the word "dead" so quietly that it was almost inaudible, but Harry heard her quite clear. He sighed. People were still making such a big deal out of his death and rebirth, no matter the fact that it was over and done with.

_Indeed, the first questions always thrust upon him when he was ambushed by reporters—or, for that matter, anyone who didn't personally know him—related, if not to his battle with Voldemort, than the miracle of his resurrection. _

_It seemed to Harry that he would never outrun having come back from the dead. Even an Healers from St. Mungo's were still constantly calling on him in hopes of discovering the key to reviving the dead. It didn't seem to matter to anyone that Harry assured them that the deed was an event not to be repeated at any point in the feasible future. Still not deterred, Harry had even gone as far as to give another in-depth interview with the Quibbler detailing his journey through the afterlife. Alas, all his efforts came up useless, and Harry had to rely on the stealth and cunning of both himself and his friends to keep away from inquiring minds._

_Sighing, Harry turned to face the monstrosity and shook his head, "I'm not really that fat, am I?"_

End Flashback

Harry smiled at the memory and walked past the statues. He had tried desperately to get the atrocity torn down, but, as it had been explained to him numerous times, a new one would just be constructed as soon as he did die in ninety or so years, so there really wasn't a point in destroying it. He had reluctantly agreed to let it stay. . .as long as statues of his parents were made as well. And so it had been done.

Taking several steps toward his parents, Harry blinked briefly. Opening his eyes again, a bed of lilies that looked as if it had been growing there for several seasons surrounded the two statues. Harry smiled at them a moment longer before continuing on to the purpose of his being there.

The house was still as clean as it had been when he first visited. It had been rebuilt and now served as a museum to the Potter family, much to Harry's dismay. Luckily, though it was a Sunday, so he didn't have to worry about being disturbed. The long, winding staircase was made of marble, and his footsteps echoed off the walls ten times louder than normal. He was fairly certain that they hadn't been made of marble originally, but it was something he had learned to deal with.

When he reached the top of the staircase, Harry stared out the large window. A flock of birds was flying away from him. He watched them until they vanished over the horizon. Breaking his gaze from the window, he turned down the right hall. Passing by the first room, he couldn't help himself but peek in.

He closed his eyes and attempted to keep his anger down. Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes again and stared out across the darkly decorated walls.

All the year old news articles from the many newspapers of the world were pinned up against the walls. He watched the figures in the pictures move around dramatically. He broke his gaze from them. He didn't have to look at them. No, those memories were impressed upon his mind far too deeply for him to forget, and heaven knew how much he desperately wished he could forget.

"Damn you," he whispered quietly at a nearby clipping of his uncle, smashing the head of a younger version of him against the wall.

Eyes wandering off the walls, he looked around the rest of the room. In the corner, on a table, was a broken lamp covered in dry blood. Harry's eyes widened. That certainly hadn't been there last time he visited this room. He tried to break his gaze from it, but before he could do so, he felt a memory creeping to the front of his mind. . .

_Harry glared at him, "Exactly what have you ever done that could be considered charitable? All you've ever done is kick when I'm down-" _

He was tired of always taking his uncle's ranting and raving, especially when half the time everything he said was a lie. Besides, his uncle would have a full nine months to call down before Harry would have to face him again.

_Vernon's eyes spit fire as he interrupted Harry, "THAT'S IT! EVERYTHING I'VE DONE IS CHARITABLE! YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE BRAT!" _

With that Vernon grabbed a lamp off Harry's bedside table and whacked him over the head with it. Harry could feel blood begin to seep from his head, acting like glue between his scalp and his hair. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination or not but he could almost swear that he could feel a piece of the pottery sticking out of his head.

Harry unconsciously brought a hand to the back of his head. He had been lucky that it had healed back to normal. Shaking his head, he brought himself back into the present moment. He had NO clue how anyone had gotten a hold of that, he was certain that his aunt and uncle had thrown it out, but he couldn't help but feel a surge of anger that someone would feel it appropriate to put such an item up for public display.

He quickly waved his hand and the lamp pieces instantly rearranged themselves into a perfectly usable lamp. He shook his head again, astonished that people would actually _want_ to look around at the abuse that a helpless boy had been forced to put up with for fifteen years.

_Vernon dropped Harry's limp form to the ground and sneered, "You worthless piece of shit! You'll never amount to anything!"_

Harry quickly knocked the memory out of his head. He looked around and a tidal wave of unpleasant memories rushed forward. Harry dodged out of the room as fast as he could and slammed the door behind him. He closed his eyes and slid down the door to the floor. He rested his head on his knees as he took several deep breaths. He thought he had gotten over all that. . .apparently not.

Still breathing heavily, he leaned back and let his head lean against the door. His eyes were still closed and the most infinitesimal amount of liquid reached his closed eyelids. He brushed them away with his shirt sleeve and opened his eyes. He was being a baby. Vernon and Petunia Dursley were dead, and there was no point in wallowing in the misery they had forced upon him in life.

Sighing heavily, he stood and wiped his eyes again. He began to wish he had never come here in the first place. To tell the truth, he didn't know why he had felt compelled to. He had been here before. He knew what was here. Merlin knew how hard he those close to him had fought to, at the very least, get rid of that one room. It was completely disrespectful, rude, and heartless to put a room on public display that housed images and symbols of him at his weakest moments.

Harry sighed irritably and cast his gaze to the side. Maybe now that Dumbledore was Minister of Magic he could put a stop to this…get it closed down for good. Maybe even sue then donate the money to Hermione's never-ending SPEW efforts. Harry snorted at his own thoughts. There really was no point.

From what he had been told, similar "museums" had been constructed in nearly all countries—a prospect that left him dazed and mortified to this date. He would never be able to close them all. No, he just had to live with the fact his triumph over Voldemort had pushed the wizarding world's fixation with him over the edge from a freaky, yet bearable interest to a sick, perverted obsession.

Casting one last glance at the door, Harry felt his eyes narrow. He quickly raised his arm and hit the door as hard as he could. A small dent formed where his hand had connected with it, and Harry felt a small surge of comfort. They had been wrong. He was worth more than they had ever been, and he had already amounted to more than they could have ever hoped to.

The snake's words echoed in the back of Harry's mind: _You can never be normal. Learn to live with it_

So he wasn't normal. . .perhaps he really was a "freak," as his aunt and uncle had called him so many times. He lowered his eyes for a moment before looking up at the door with a small smile. Yeah, he was a freak, but he was a freak with a boat load of friends and an ocean full of people who cared about him. Giving one last kick to the door in front of him, Harry apparated to Hogwarts.

A surprised shriek met him, "Potter!"

Harry looked to his side and smirked, "Getting ready for the first years?"

Peeves flipped in a circle and the bucket that had been hanging from the ceiling fell to the floor with a loud clatter, "What a year this one will be!"

"You better stay away from the Gryffindors, Peeves," Harry warned, waving his finger at him, very McGonagall-ish.

Peeves cackled, "I wouldn't _dream_ of it, Potter."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Yeah, whatever you say, Peeves."

The poltergeist laughed and swiftly sped out of the Great Hall. Harry shook his head and started on his way to Dumbledore's office. Along the way, he encountered Snape who gave him a very nasty sneer, but otherwise ignored him.

When Harry reached the statue blocking the entrance to the Headmaster's office, he reached his hand out and touched it. It started moving and Harry slowly walked the rest of the way up the stairs. He knocked on the door and he was, very jovially, told to enter.

"Ah, Harry! What a nice surprise!" Dumbledore smiled.

"Hello, Pro. . .Dumbledore," Harry caught himself in mid-sentence. He didn't know if he would ever get used to calling him Dumbledore in front of him.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

Harry smiled, "I've decided what I want to do."

Dumbledore nodded and motioned Harry to take the seat in front of his desk, "And?"

Harry looked down and took a deep breath before looking up and smiling broadly, "I've decided to accept your offer."

"Wonderful!" Dumbledore exclaimed, though Harry couldn't help but get the feeling that he had already known the answer, "Might I inquire as to what changed your mind?"

"A couple of things. . .I had a rather interesting discussion with a snake out by the lake at Marauder Manor, then I visited to my parents' old house."

Dumbledore seemed to understand what Harry meant by visiting his parents' house, for he nodded and stood up, "I see, well, I suppose that this is now your seat."

Harry laughed and shook his head, "This is going to be one hell of a year, isn't it?"

"An interesting one, at the least," Dumbledore agreed, "School starts in a week. I will have my possessions cleared out by tomorrow afternoon; you should bring your belongings then."

Harry nodded, "Dumbledore, could you do me a favor?"

"Certainly, what is it?"

"Could you keep this between us for the moment? I don't want anymore attention any sooner than necessary."

Dumbledore laughed, but nodded nonetheless, "I shall need to inform the Board and the other professors, but other than that, it will be our little secret."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank you, Sir."

"Dumbledore, Harry," Dumbledore reminded him, "And before I forget, you aren't busy tomorrow are you?"

"No."

"Good, keep your schedule clear," Dumbledore said, sitting back down, "When you come to unpack tomorrow I will need to explain to you your duties as Headmaster."

Harry nodded, "Alright then. I better be going, though."

"Of course. Can't wait to share the news with Sirius, Tali, and Remus?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry shrugged before, "I guess. . ."

He shook his head and rolled his eyes, "But they'll kill me if I'm not back before dark."

Dumbledore laughed and bid Harry farewell, who promptly apparated back to Marauder Manor.

"Where have you been, Harry? It's already eight thirty!" Sirius jumped on him the moment he appeared in the living room.

Harry laughed nervously and took a few steps forward, "I'm not a little kid, Sirius. I can take care of myself. Besides, I wasn't about to get hurt where I was."

"Well where were you?" Tali asked, ten times more calm than her husband.

"Hogwarts," Harry said simply.

Instantly, the three froze, "Why?"

Harry smiled in a taunting fashion, "I had to tell Dumbledore what I decided to do, didn't I?"

"Well?" Sirius asked excitedly.

"Well what?" Harry asked, knowing perfectly well what they wanted to know.

"What did you decide?" Remus prompted.

Harry started walking towards the door, "Maybe you three should just wait and find out."

"Oh no you don't!" Sirius said, stepping in front of him, "Harry Potter, you'll tell me now or else!"

Harry couldn't help but laugh at the anxiety threatening to rip his godfather in two, "Are you really in that big of a rush to find out that I have the right to order you around?"

"Of course I'm—" Sirius stopped talking and his eyes widened, "Yes! I told you! I told you you'd do it!"

He started dancing around in little victory circles and Harry turned to the other two, who were actually sane.

"Congratulations, Harry," Remus smiled.

"Thanks!" Harry smiled brightly.

"This is one of the best line up of teachers Hogwarts has ever seen, huh?" Tali mused happily.

Harry was about to respond when he found himself lifted off the ground and spun around in circles, "We're gonna have so much fun this year! I can't wait to see Snape's face when he finds out! Yay!"

Harry's glasses bounced to edge of his nose and he had to fight to free an arm from his side to grab a hold of them before they fell off, "Sirius! Let me go!"

Sirius didn't seem to hear him, for he went on dancing. Harry's shirt was wrenched up to the base of his neck and muffled his protests. Tali and Remus were laughing too much for them to even try to help. It wasn't long, however, until Sirius tripped on the rug in the middle of the room.

The two fell to the floor roughly. Harry tumbled a few feet out of Sirius' arms and, as soon as he sat up, pulled his shirt off his nose, and put his glasses on his face.

"You're crazy, Padfoot," he commented, rubbing his back.

Sirius grinned madly from the floor, "Yay!"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Super sorry for the delay! I was preoccupied with finals! Anywho, yay! Harry's Headmaster now! How many of you saw that coming? Since I was late in updating, I'll let you in on some happenings in the next chapter:

1-Fun, fun, and more fun for Harry, Sirius, Remus, and Tali at Hogwarts

2-An end of summer dinner for the new Marauders

3-And the last thing I'm gonna tell you: Harry gets to know someone a little better

That's all I'm gonna tell you! Though, don't think that's all that's gonna happen in the next chapter! Yay! Now that I was so nice, how about you write a review? Thanks!


	4. Ch4: Dinner at Westbridge

Kim: Harry and Sirius singing a song. . .hey, the story is young. You never know, it's possible, not sure if it'll happen, though. Anywho, well that's good! Yes, Harry's Headmaster now. . .can't you just picture everyone's faces when they find out?

Matakishi Hirata-San: Yes, actually, finals are over! Hallelujah! It does mean that I'll be able to update more frequently, great, isn't it? There is one little hitch, but that's gonna be in the Author's Note, so be sure to read that. As for your other question. . .you'll just have to wait to find out. . .

Angelic Demon16: Thanks! I really couldn't think of anything else to start the chapter with. I'm glad someone liked it! And, I hope, the story is going to get a lot better in a few more chapters. . .something big is gonna happen. . .I'm not sure how many more chapters till it starts, though.

Rachel A. Prongs: Well, it's not exactly an Abuse Museum. It's a Museum dedicated to Harry's life. There was just one room with the abuse stuff in it. . .I guess I could've explained that better. . .:sweatdrops: Sorry 'bout that!

Istalksiriusonweekends: What he does next:Smiles and looks around: I have no idea. . .Good luck in your endeavors of finding Sirius!

Englishgirl: Thanks! I love that line, too. I was gonna have someone respond to it, but it seemed better to just cut it off there. :Smiles: Thanks for the review!

Chrispy: No worries there. I don't write slash. . .not that I have anything against it. . .it's just not me. Yeah, you won't have to worry about any of that from me. Anywho, no. Snape is gonna be saved for a later time in the story. Right now it's gonna be someone else. . .good guess, though

Amy: Angst. . .well, I hope it's enough to last you for a while. It'll be a bit before anymore comes. . .if any does. And thanks about the snake! I liked him, too! I'm thinking about possibly bringing him in later, what do you think? And as for everyone's reactions. . .I hope you'll enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing it!

Ladee Sakura Evenstar Night: Hey, no sweat. It got me to thinking. And anything's possible with me as the author, huh:Smiles: I like the way that sounds! So many possibilities!

Charlie:Laughs: I never get tired of your reviews! Groovtasical! Great! I think I might start a new dictionary with your words, if that's okay, of course! Thanks for the review!

Hedowl5: So you knew Harry would say yes, huh? Well, I can tell you now, things won't stay predictable for much longer. . .:Smiles evilly: I know, you hate me. One question, though. Four days till what? Till school is out? If so, have an awesome summer!

Lady Reaper of the Shadows: Well, I'm glad that I've assisted you in having one over your sis. I, for one, can fully understand how that feels! I have two younger sisters. . .annoying as poop sometimes. . .have fun!

Ears91: You're the second person to guess Snape. And, for a second time, I fear to inform you that, no. It's someone else this time. That's not to say that Harry won't get to know Snape better later. . .things will certainly take a turn that gives them TIME to get to know each other. . .but that's all I'm saying now. . .

Athenakitty: Wow! You gave me quite a lot of things to think about! I'll answer some of your questions now, but the others will have to be saved for a later time, fair? Okay, first, no. This time Harry's not talking to Snape this time, but he will later on in the story. The deputy headmistress will be identified this chapter. . .so I'm not gonna tell you now. As for your other questions, patience is a good virtue to have. . .

Tony: Don't worry, I will. And thanks for the review!

Mystic Queen: Thanks! I love writing Sirius. He's a great character!

Wanted: A Happy Ending  
Ch4: Dinner at Westbridge

"—And that's about it. Any questions?"

Harry glanced through the list of do's and don'ts. It was all pretty basic stuff, nothing that he hadn't expected.

"No, I think I have it."

Dumbledore smiled, "Good, good. I should need to be going now, there is a press conference I must attend, but if you ever have any questions, I am but an owl away."

Harry nodded and tucked the list away, "Good luck, Sir."

"You, too, Harry. Just remember everything we talked about, and you should be fine," Dumbledore shook Harry's hand, "I will see you soon."

With that, Albus Dumbledore turned and left his old office one last time. Harry watched him go, and, once he was gone, looked around. The room looked terribly plain without all Dumbledore's decorations. The Sorting Hat and Dumbledore's desk, though completely bare, were the only things left. Hedwig took off of Harry's shoulder and flew around the room, taking everything in.

"Welcome home, Hedwig," Harry smiled, "I guess I better unpack, huh?"

He looked around again before nodding. He clapped his hands together and slowly separated them. A gentle breeze accompanied by a pale yellow light filtered through the room. When both subsided, there were boxes upon boxes of all Harry's belongings stacked neatly in the center of the room.

Circling the boxes, Harry managed to locate Hedwig's perch protruding from one of the top boxes. He levitated it out of the box, and Hedwig instantly flew over and landed on it. Harry rolled his eyes at the bird. Of course she couldn't wait for him to place it on solid ground. He quickly set it next to his desk—exactly where Fawkes' had been. Hedwig tucked her head under her wing, and, Harry was certain, that she was asleep in next to no time.

Turning around, he heaved a heavy sigh as he took in the many boxes that remained to unpack. It would be a while until he figured out how he wanted everything. The tip to his Starshooter 83—the latest broomstick that wasn't even available in stores yet—was poking out of another box. To say that he had been ecstatic when the inventor, a wizard by the name of Chet Waters, gave it to him would be an understatement.

It had been on his birthday. He had already received hundreds of gifts from witches and wizards from every corner of the globe. He truly didn't know what he would do with them all. Some were quite practical—a new set of robes which he desperately needed after a growth spurt he had just had—but some were just down right odd.

Harry would never forget the blue-eyed blonde American who had placed herself _inside_ a cake from which she jumped in lingerie that left little to the imagination. He didn't have to tell you how mortifying it had been when she had gone as far as to try to give him what he later learned to be a lap dance. And while Sirius, Ron, Fred, George, and a good number of his other male friends at the party thought it righteously hilarious—they still taunted him about it every time the name Cookie Morgan was brought up—Hermione had been positively furious.

It had taken every ounce of strength Ginny and Lavender could muster to keep her from jinxing the witch into next week. The whole fiasco had lasted no longer than ten minutes, but it was enough to cause Hermione to sit possessively close to Harry as he worked through the remainder of his gifts.

That night after Sirius, Remus, and Tali had managed to get rid of all the reporters and well-wishers—a feat which Harry still marveled at to this day—Waters had arrived bearing the Starshooter 83. Waters, already famous for his hand in the development of the Nimbus series, had caused Sirius to have a near heart attack induced by his excitement.

Harry hadn't flown it yet—he really hadn't had the time what with all the time he had been spending with Snape working on Remus' birthday present—but with one quick look outside at the beautiful blue sky, the temptation became too great. Harry grabbed the broom out of the box and headed towards the door—unpacking could wait.

On his way down the stairs, frustrated voices reached him: "Would you think for a moment, Padfoot? Dumbledore isn't the Headmaster anymore. Harry must have made a new password, and I seriously doubt that it's a candy."

"How do you even know that they changed it yet?"

"Why don't we just go and find someone else. Surely _someone_ must know the password."

Harry laughed to himself and rolled his eyes. Of course Hogwarts' newest professors would be arguing about passwords. Blinking only for an instant, he opened his eyes to find himself standing behind the trio of adults he lived with, none of whom, noticed him.

He rested his broom on his shoulder, "I hear the new password's 'PJ.'"

The three jumped, but before anyone could say anything more, the gargoyle sprung to life. Harry pulled Remus out of the way just in time as the gargoyle landed right where the man had been standing but a minute before.

"Thanks," Remus said before growing a puzzled look, "PJ?"

Harry smiled at them, "Prongs Jr."

Understanding dawned on their faces as Harry shift his Starshooter to his other shoulder, "What are you three doing here? I thought you'd be busy getting ready for Monday."

"We came to help you unpack...apparently you already did so," Tali said, eyeing the broom.

"Oh this?" Harry said, shrugging the shoulder the broom was on, "No, I was just taking a break to go try out my new broom."

"You should really unpack, Harry. As you said, school starts up again Monday."

"Ah, don't be such a party pooper, Tals! Harry's got THE broomstick out there. Hell, it's not even out there yet! You really expect him to want to unpack instead of trying it out?" Sirius asked incredibly.

Tali rolled her eyes and brought her hand to her face, "What was I thinking? You haven't unpacked yet, either. It must be the way to do things."

"Exactly! Come on, Harry. Let's go try out that broom!" Sirius said, putting his hand on his godson's shoulder and guiding him down the hall.

The four quickly made their way out onto the Quidditch field. Along the way, Sirius had stopped by his office—which, as Tali had referenced, was horribly unorganized—to grab the Quidditch balls, due to Harry's request, along with three of the school's standard issue brooms which had been updated to Nimbus Two-Thousand and One's.

"Lets see what that thing's made of, Harry," Sirius said, holding up the Snitch, "Get up there and I'll let this thing go in a minute."

Harry nodded and mounted the broom, which was unbelievably comfortable. Kicking off, he found himself ascending to a decent height the quickest he ever had. Within seconds, he had risen so high, that he had difficultly distinguishing the three on the ground.

"Wow," he breathed to himself before lowering to a more appropriate level.

By the time he reached the point where he could actually make out the figures on the ground, he noticed that they were jumping up and down, waving their arms frantically. It was only then that he saw a speck of gold dash by him. Before he could even go to direct the broom, it had already turned and was speeding after Snitch.

As he chased after it, he briefly recalled Waters saying something about the broom being "in sync" with the owner's thoughts. Harry didn't even want to think about how much it would cost when it finally came out for sale.

Closing in on the golden ball, he stretched his fingers out as far as they would go. Within seconds, he was zooming towards the ground, gold peering through the gaps between his fingers. Sirius was whooping so loud that, even a hundred feet from the ground he could be heard clearly.

"A minute! A _minute_! That has to be a record!" he yelled, practically pulling Harry off his broom as soon as he came within arms' length.

"One hell of a broomstick, that's for sure," Tali agreed.

Remus was still staring wide eyed at him, "A minute...no one's ever caught a snitch that quickly before! Can you imagine the next World Cup? It's a good thing you're not still on Gryffindor's team, Harry. The other Houses wouldn't stand a chance!"

Harry sighed, "Yeah...one of the things I'm going to miss this year. Playing Quidditch."

"I wonder who the hell they're going to get to replace you," Sirius wondered out loud.

"It won't matter," Remus said, playfully punching Harry's shoulder, "No one can be as good as Harry."

Even though it didn't hurt, Harry rubbed his shoulder, "It better be someone good...Gryffindor needs to keep its hands on the Cup."

"Damn straight!" Sirius agreed.

"Hey, Slytherin has to find a new seeker, too, right?" Tali asked.

Harry thought for a moment, "Oh yeah...I guess they do."

"Where did that git and his mum run off to, anyhow?" Remus asked.

"I heard they moved to Bulgaria," Sirius said, "I guess the outpouring of hatred about Lucius must have been too much."

Indeed, it hadn't been long before word had gotten around that Lucius Malfoy had been Voldemort's right hand man. Consequentially, the man's surviving family had been on the receiving end of one of the harshest backlashes Harry could ever remember witnessing.

Malfoy and his mother had tried to ignore the hatred pouring their way, but after an Australian man had attempted to kill them by means of a rallying a huge mob which stormed and burnt their house to the ground, it had become too much. The very next day the two had packed what little remained of their belongings and high-tailed it out of the country.

Very few knew where they were—Harry being one of them. As much as he hated to admit it, he couldn't help but feel bad for his rival. He knew all too well what it was like to have seemingly the whole world opposed to your very existence. He had even gone as far as to wish the Malfoys a safe journey, though he'd never admit this to Ron or Sirius who seemed to think that they were getting exactly what they deserved.

"Don't sound too bad for them, Sirius," Remus rolled his eyes.

Sirius shrugged, "Why would I? The Malfoys are pieces of shit. The only difference is that now everyone knows it."

"Well put, Padfoot," Remus said sarcastically.

"I thought so," Sirius said, crossing his arms and smiling.

Remus shoved Sirius and stuck out his tongue. Sirius mock-glared at him and stuck his tongue out back at him.

"They're awfully mature now, aren't they?" Tali whispered at Harry.

"Oh, definitely," Harry agreed, nodding his head, "Do any of you know what time it is?"

Remus turned to him, ignoring Sirius who was shouting about winning the raspberry contest, "I believe it's going on seven."

"Seven?" Harry exclaimed dramatically, "Bloody hell! Did it really take that long?"

"What's wrong?" Sirius asked, calming down.

Harry sighed and shook his head, "I'm supposed to meet Ron, Hermione, and Lavender at Westbridge for dinner."

"Westbridge? How'd you get reservations there? It's just opening today," Tali said, impressed.

Harry shrugged, "There's your answer. They wanted me to go. . .I think it's probably good for publicity, but, hey, Lavender says they have the best desserts."

"He gets an invitation to the classiest restaurant around here, and he doesn't invite us," Sirius said, crossing his arms, "I think I'm offended."

"Get off it, Sirius. I took you three to the opening of Nightingale's. Besides, this is a pre-Hogwarts celebration," Harry said, tossing Sirius the Snitch, "Would you mind taking my broom back to my office? I need to get going before I'm even later."

"Sure," Remus said, taking the broom, "Have a good time, Harry."

Harry bid them farewell before apparating to Hermione's house, where the four of them were to meet. He smiled and walked up the steps. Apparating was definitely the preferable way of travel. He was about to knock on the door when he looked down at himself. He was still in his day-to-day clothes. Rolling his eyes, he made sure no Muggles were passing by, and, in a flash, found himself in deep green dress robes the complimented his eyes and contrasted his hair nicely.

Checking himself once more, Harry smiled and knocked on the door. He heard someone shout "I'll get it," and in a matter of moments, Harry found himself face to face with Hermione. He smiled broadly at her. She was dressed beautiful lilac dress robes. Her eyelids were decorated in a soft white glitter, and her glossy lips shone in the setting sun. Her hair, obviously straightened, had been styled and framed her face magnificently.

"Wow, Herms, you look great!" he exclaimed, hugging her, "Did you cut your hair?"

She smiled and spun around, "Yeah, you like it?"

He grabbed her hand and she came to a stop, "Love it."

"Come on," she said, pulling him inside, "We're just waiting for Ron to arrive."

"Hi, Harry!" Lavender said, hugging him as he entered the living room. She was dressed in sea foam green robes, and her hair was half-pulled back half-let down. Harry nodded and the three took seats on the couches.

"Hello, Lavender. You look nice," Harry said as they pulled back.

She giggled and spun around, "You think so?"

Harry nodded and Lavender grinned, hugged him briefly, and took her seat on the couch. Following her example, Hermione pulled Harry onto the loveseat, "Dad went out to the market. He says to tell you hi," Hermione said.

Harry nodded, "Thanks. ...I wonder what's keeping Ron. He's not the kind to be late when there's food involved."

Hermione and Lavender agreed, "Perhaps Fred and George hid his dress robes again."

Lavender laughed, "I don't know about that. Ron went out and bought that room alarm Harry got for Ginny last Christmas as soon as it turned Percy into a weasel."

Harry and Hermione laughed, "Percy was trying to break into Ginny's room?"

"Well, actually he was just trying to get back his quill that she borrowed," Ron said, stepping out of the fireplace.

"Ron!" they all exclaimed, jumping to their feet.

Ron stepped out of the shadows in the fireplace with a smirk, "So I can't be late when food's involved, huh?"

Harry laughed, "You never have been the one to pass up an opportunity to stuff your face, Ron."

Ron blushed and looked down at his midnight blue robes, "What can I say, I love culture."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "No, you love culture's eats."

Ron shrugged, "That too."

"Well, we better hurry, or we'll be late," Hermione said, walking to the fireplace and picking up a flower pot.

"You guys go on ahead, I'll meet you over there," Harry said as everyone else walked to the fireplace.

"What's the matter, Harry? Don't like the Floo System?" Ron teased.

"Yeah, that's exactly it," Harry said flatly, "I prefer to travel by apparation as it is."

"Have it your way then," Ron shrugged, stepping back into the fireplace. They both disappeared at the same time.

Harry reappeared at the Shrieking Shack just as Ron, Hermione, and Lavender walked out of it. They greeted each other again and headed on their way. Even from a good distance off, the quartet could easily spot the large crowd at the entrance to the restaurant.

"It's going to be hell getting in there," Ron stated with forth coming dread.

"It can't be any worse than Nightingale's opening," Harry said optimistically.

Hermione looked at him, "I still can't believe you went to America without us."

"Hey, it was Sirius, Remus, and Tali's turns. You don't see them here, do you?" Harry asked.

Hermione shook her head, "No, it's alright. I've just always wanted to go to America, that's all."

"Yeah, I heard they have some of the best chefs there!" Ron jumped in.

"Is all you think about food?" Hermione asked incredibly.

"No," said Ron, "Sometimes I think about Lavender."

"Glad to know I make it into that mind of yours," Lavender said sarcastically.

"Sometimes," Ron restated.

Lavender shoved him, knocking him into Harry, who stumbled backwards a few steps before bumping into someone.

"Oh, sorry!" he said, turning around to see a young girl on the ground.

"Don't mention it," she said, standing up, "I seem to be bumping into people left and right these days."

"Hey!" Harry exclaimed as soon as he saw the girl's face, "Nice to see you again! Er…Nyo, right?"

He shook her hand as she nodded, a slight blush tinting her cheeks, "Nice to see you again, too."

Ron cleared his throat behind them, and Harry smiled at them, "Hey, Nyo, these are my friends, Ron and Lavender."

Ron and Lavender said hi, and Harry took Hermione's hand, "And this is my girlfriend, Hermione."

"Nice to meet you," Nyo grinned, shaking her hand.

"And, guys, this is Nyo. I bumped into her the other day outside Fred and George's shop. She's a transfer student. She'll be at Hogwarts this year," Harry said, motioning to the blue-eyed girl.

"Nice to meet you," the three said simultaneously.

"What year are you?" Lavender smiled.

"Seventh."

"Alright!" Ron exclaimed, "Hope to see you in Gryffindor."

"Are you all in Gryffindor?" she asked, looking at them.

"Yep!" Ron grinned broadly, "The best of the lot."

Harry fought down a smile. Little did they know that he was no longer a Gryffindor.

"You all look nice tonight. Where are you heading?"

Harry nodded at Westbridge, "We have reservations at Westbridge."

"Wow! That's an expensive place," Nyo said, impressed, "And I hear they have the _best_ desserts."

"Yeah, but you want to hear the best part?" Ron said excitedly, "It's all for free!"

"Free?" Nyo asked.

Harry whacked Ron over the head, "Yeah. I guess the owners want me to be seen there or something. Either way, they offered me and my friends free meals if we came tonight."

"Wow," Nyo breathed, "Well, I hope you four have fun."

Hermione whispered feverishly in Harry's ear, and he smiled, "Hey, Nyo, want to come with us?"

She looked taken back, "What?"

"Why don't you come with us?" Hermione asked, "That way we could get to know you a little better."

"Yeah, and we can give you the dos and don'ts for Hogwarts," Lavender smiled.

"I don't know...Haven't you only reserved four seats?"

Ron laughed, "You think they care? As long as Harry's there, they'll give us fifty seats."

Harry looked at him muttered something about "annoying twit." Hermione and Lavender laughed as Ron put his hand on his hips and pretended to be offended ("Well I never!").

"I'm not even dressed for someplace like Westbridge," Nyo said, looking at herself when questioned again. She was wearing an ordinary, worn robe.

"You look about my size. You can borrow one of my dress robes," Lavender smiled, "Oh! I have the perfect one! It'd be beautiful on you!"

Nyo opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Lavender latched onto her hand, "Come on! It'll be fun! We could use another girl to chat with. Once those two get caught up on Quidditch there's no stopping them!"

"I like Quidditch," Nyo laughed at the indignant looks Ron and Harry were giving Lavender.

"So you'll come?" Harry asked.

Nyo thought for a moment before nodding, "I suppose so. I could use something to do until my parents are done."

"They're here?" Harry asked, looking around, not noticing the disdain that slipped into his voice.

Shaking her head, Nyo sighed irritably, "Yeah. They said they needed to meet someone in Hogs Head and didn't want me tagging along."

"Typical. Parents are all the same. Mum and Dad kicked me and Gin out the other day when Dumbledore came over… It's like they don't trust us or something." Ron crossed his arms.

"I wonder why," Lavender laughed before turning to Harry, "Harry, would you mind getting my spare robe? It's the pastel pink one with the white trim,"

Harry nodded and apparated out of sight.

"Where'd he go?" Nyo asked, looking around.

"To my house," Lavender said plainly.

"He can apparate?" Nyo asked, impressed.

The three laughed, and Nyo's cheeks tinted pink. Ron put a hand on her shoulder, "Harry can do anything. Didn't you hear about last year?"

"My parents don't keep up on business that doesn't concern them," Nyo said quietly.

"Doesn't concern them?" Ron exclaimed, "The press conference after Harry killed You-Kno...er...Voldemort doesn't concern your parents?"

Nyo shrugged, "We keep to ourselves a lot."

"I suppose so," Hermione said.

Nyo suddenly found herself enveloped in a warm golden light. When it faded, she was fitted in Lavender's pink dress robe, which did fit her quite nicely.

"Not bad, Lav. Maybe you should consider being a fashion consultant," Harry said, reappearing.

"Yeah, anything but a Divination store," Ron pleaded.

Lavender stuck her head into the air proudly, "No, I may have a knack for fashion, but it could never replace my one true love."

Ron's face fell, "You mean, you like some ruddy rubbish more than me?"

Lavender's mouth dropped open, "I _know_ that you didn't just insult Divination!"

Harry and Hermione simultaneously dropped their heads into their hands, "Here we go again."

"Come on, if we have to listen to you two fight, I'm at least going to be sitting down while I do it," Harry said, grabbing their hands and pulling them towards Westbridge.

Fifteen minutes later, they had somehow managed to make their way through the crowds of reporters and onlookers—a task none were looking forward to attempting again after their meal. The moment they were inside, though, they were once again surrounded.

"Ah, Mister Potter! So glad you could make it!" a tall, lean woman—whom Harry guessed to be one of the owners—exclaimed, taking his hand and shaking it furiously.

"Er. . .yes," Harry said once he got control of his hand back, "I brought an extra friend."

A man in a gray robe smiled, "For you, no problem at all, Mister Potter."

"Thanks," Harry said, casting a quick wink at Nyo as the five of them were led through the tables.

Not many people had arrived yet, but those who were, stared after them as they passed. Harry did his best to ignore them and was a bit less than pleased to find that the man had placed them right at the head of the room.

"Can't we have a seat somewhere closer to the back?" he asked hopefully.

"This is the best table in the house," the man beamed.

Ron coughed something that sounded suspiciously like 'bullshit' and Lavender elbowed him. Harry reluctantly nodded and the five took their seats. Once the man was gone, Harry looked at his friends, "I suppose I should have known better than to expect to remain inconspicuous, huh?"

"Harry, with you, there is no such thing as inconspicuous," Hermione laughed.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Harry smiled.

Hermione smiled back and kissed his cheek, "Take it however you want, Harry."

"If you two are finished..." Ron led off.

"Why do you always have to ruin the moment, Ron?" Lavender asked, setting down her menu.

"Er..." Ron looked around for a moment before pulling her close and whispering rather loudly in her ear, "Because you and I weren't the stars."

Everyone at the table snorted at how corny that sounded before hiding their faces behind their menus with the exception of Lavender who pushed herself away from Ron, "Sorry, Ron. Not this time."

"So, you've been here before Lavender, what's good?" Hermione asked.

"Who cares? I'm just going to order the most expensive thing on the menu," Ron said, "What's 'haggis' anyway?"

Hermione and Nyo laughed while the other three looked at them.

"What is it?" asked Harry. The two girls looked at each other and laughed again.

"From their reaction, I wouldn't say it's anything you'd want to get, Ron," Harry said pointedly.

"Sure you can get it," Hermione smiled.

"Yes. This place makes the best haggis," Nyo grinned.

"What is it?" the three chorused.

Nyo forced her laughter down, "Chopped lungs, heart, and liver mixed with oatmeal and boiled in a sheep's stomach."

"Oh! Ew! That's disgusting!" Lavender exclaimed, clamping her hands over her mouth. Judging by Harry and Ron's faces, they felt the same way.

"Still going for the priciest thing on the menu, Ron?" Hermione asked.

Ron put his menu down and pushed it away, "I think I'll just have a hamburger."

"One hamburger, and what will the rest of you have?" asked a waitress, walking up to them.

"Er...I'll have the chicken marbella," Harry said, setting down his menu.

"And I'll have the smoked salmon," Hermione said, also setting down her menu.

"I guess I'll have the paella," Nyo said, gathering all the menus and handing them to the waitress.

"Alright, I'll be back with your food momentarily," said the waitress as she walked off.

"So you like it in England?" Hermione asked Nyo.

"Yes, it's very nice here...the people are a lot more friendly, anyway," Nyo nodded.

"The people were rude where you came from?" asked Lavender, and Nyo nodded again.

"Did you by any chance come from Bulgaria?" Ron asked before being kicked in the shin by Hermione, "Ow! What was that for?"

"Just because you didn't like Viktor doesn't mean you can still go around insulting his country, Ron," Hermione said, perturbed.

"Still. . ." Ron said, rubbing his leg, "You didn't have to kick me so hard."

"Well you don't have to be such a prat," Hermione retorted before turning back to Nyo, "So where do you come from?"

"Well. . .I'm from England, but my parents and I have lived in Ireland since I was very little."

"Ireland, eh? Ever have any trouble with those damn leprechauns planting fake money with yours?" Ron asked.

"Ron!" Harry, Hermione, and Lavender exclaimed.

Nyo laughed, "No, they never bothered us. . .we really didn't have many friends over there."

"Well I should think that a good thing if everyone was rude," Lavender said.

Nyo shrugged, "I suppose so. It did open a lot of time for studying, though."

Harry and Ron simultaneously groaned and smacked their hands to their foreheads.

"Not another Hermione," Ron groaned, earning another kick in the shins from the brunette.

Nyo laughed again, "I did play Quidditch often, you know."

Ron's eyes shimmered, "Really? What position?"

"Seeker. I never made the House team at my old school, but only because my parents wouldn't let me try out," Nyo added the last part quickly.

"Why not?" asked Ron, fascinated.

"They don't want me to draw any attention to myself," Nyo said, shrugging.

"No offense, Nyo, but your parents sound like stuck up bitches," Ron laughed.

"RON!" Harry, Hermione, and Lavender shouted, all either hitting or kicking him.

"OW! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?" Ron yelled in pain.

The room suddenly took on a silence, and the members of the table turned to see everyone else in the restaurant staring at them. They laughed nervously before diving in over the table for a more private conversation.

"What the hell was that for?" Ron asked furiously, but more quietly.

"What do you think it was for, you prat?" Harry asked.

"No, it's alright. He's right. My parents are a bit stuck up. You should know that, Harry. You've met them before," Nyo said calmly.

"Still, there's a thing called etiquette. Obviously Ron hasn't learned any yet," Lavender said, glaring at him.

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry, already," Ron said, leaning back in his seat.

"Here's your food," said the waitress as she walked up to them.

She handed out their food and gave them a small smile before heading to another table from which she was being beckoned.

"A hamburger. . .we come to the fanciest restaurant in England, and you get a hamburger," Hermione said, shaking her head.

"Just be quiet and eat your food, Hermione," Ron said through a mouthful of food.

Hermione muttered something about Ron being an 'unsophisticated prat' before turning to the others at the table, "Did you guys read the Daily Prophet this morning? Dumbledore's the new Minister of Magic!"

"Yeah, I know! And can you believe that _no one_ knows who the new Headmaster of Hogwarts is going to be?" Lavender asked.

Harry choked on a bite of his chicken and Hermione patted him on the back, "You okay, Harry?"

"Er. . .yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. No clue who's going to be the Headmaster, though," he said, instantly regretting the last part he said.

"Harry, do you know something you're not telling us?" Lavender asked.

"Er. . .no. No, nothing that I'm aware of."

"Hey! Sirius, Tali, and Remus are all professors at the school now, aren't they?" Ron turned to Harry, "Harry! Who's the new Headmaster?"

"I have no idea," Harry said, "...Did you guys hear about the Quidditch Cup finals? The favorite is England this year."

"Don't go changing the subject, Harry. I know you know!" Ron exclaimed.

Harry cursed himself numerously in his head before looking those who were staring at him expectantly, "Alright, alright. I know who it is. But I can't tell you. I've been sworn to secrecy."

"Aw! Come on, Harry! You can tell us! We're your _best friends_!" Ron pleaded, leaning over the table.

"Ron, you're getting your robes in Harry's food," Lavender said, trying to pull him back into his seat.

"Harry! Please tell me!" Ron begged, "At least tell me it's not that Umbridge woman from the Ministry! Fred and George have been swearing up and down—"

"Ron, you're drawing attention to yourself again," Nyo pointed out.

Ron either didn't notice, or didn't care, for he went on pleading with his friend until Harry finally magicked Ron back into his seat.

"I told you," Harry said, "I'm sworn to secrecy. All I can tell you is that he's a cool guy. Don't worry. We'll have a great year."

"Well at least we can rule Snape out," Hermione said with subtle pleasure.

"Snape?" asked Nyo, "Isn't he a Death Eater?"

The three looked at each other, "Where'd you hear that?"

"It's common knowledge among us magic folk in Ireland," Nyo said, shrugging.

"Well it's not here. You can't tell anyone, okay?" Harry said earnestly.

Nyo looked at them, uncertain of what the big deal was, but nodded nonetheless, "Okay, then."

The rest of dinner went pretty uneventful. They learned that Nyo was an only child, and she learned quite a bit about Harry's defeat of Voldemort, which, quite surprisingly, she knew very little about.

After a huge round of dessert which consisted of an ice cream sundae large enough to feed the whole of Hogwarts, the five made their way out of the restaurant. The crowd outside had died down in the two and a half hours it had taken them to eat, but they still had to brave past a few lingering photographers. Once out of their sight, they collapsed on a nearby bench.

"Bloody hell, they do have the best desserts!" Ron said, patting his stomach.

"Their meals weren't that bad, either," Hermione nodded.

"I don't know. I've had better at cheaper places," Ron said.

"Why are you even talking, Ron? Not only was it all free, but, out of all the things you could have had, you had a hamburger and fries," Lavender said.

"Well, it was nice getting to meet you all, and thank you for dinner, but I really best be heading back before my parents have a cow," Nyo said, beginning to take off Lavender's robe.

"Keep it," Lavender said, "You can just give it to me on the Hogwarts Express. There's no rush, right?"

"No, I really ought to give it to you now," Nyo said, handing it to her, "My parents don't like me to borrow things."

"I said it before, and I'll say it again—" started Ron.

Hermione quickly slapped her hand over his mouth, though, "No you won't say it, Ron."

"You're not cold?" Harry asked, noticing Nyo tugging at her short sleeves, "It's August."

"What?" she asked, "Oh, no. No, I'm fine."

"You sure? You can keep my robe until Hogwarts. Honest, I don't mind," Lavender said.

"No, I'll be fine. My parents should be done by now. I'll you at school," Nyo said, turning and beginning to walk towards the edge of town. They watched her until she disappeared around the corner of the street.

"Well, we better be going, too. I want to make sure that Fred and George haven't found a way around that lock yet," Ron said, turning towards the Shrieking Shack.

"You guys go on, I think I'll apparate again," Harry said.

Ron rolled his eyes, "Wimp. Come on, Lavender. We can't part ways until a goodnight kiss, now can we?"

Lavender smiled, "We'll meet you at the Shack, Hermione."

Hermione laughed, and waved them off, though it was rather pointless, for they had already broken out into a run and were already half way to the Shack.

"Now that we're alone. . ." Harry pulled Hermione closer to him.

"Thank you for a wonderful evening, Harry," Hermione said, kissing him.

"Hey, don't thank me, thank my use as a publicity act," Harry smiled.

Hermione laughed and kissed him again, "I better be going. Dad's going to want to make sure I'm back before he goes to bed, and it's getting a bit late."

Harry nodded, "See you on the first, then."

Hermione nodded, "It's a date."

Harry smiled and stared at her retreating figure. When she finally vanished within the house, Harry turned back in the direction that Nyo had taken off in. Something felt awfully familiar about her, though he couldn't place his finger on what it was.

The clock in the center of Hogsmeade rang eleven. Sighing, he decided that he would figure it out later. After all, he had all year, and now that he didn't have classes to worry about, he would have plenty of time. That thought in mind, he apparated back to Marauder Manor.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sooooooooooooo happy right now! Anywho, hope you like the chapter. I fear I must go to this really stupid camp this week, and I won't be back until Friday afternoon. You have the fifth book of Harry Potter to keep you busy, though. And if you finish that, I'll leave you with a little something else. . .

Next chapter: September first is here, and everyone finds out who the Headmaster is.


	5. Ch5: Headmaster Harry?

Athenakitty: Well, he can't really spill the beans, you'll see why. As for Nyo's parents...you shall see. And trust me: it's gonna be one hell of a shocker when you find out.no more there for the moment, though. And the verdict is in: the teasers remain!

Ears91: Yeah, I know. But it's just so typically Ron, isn't it? Sirius.:sigh: yes, I think I'll use him a lot more in this story. If you finished Book 5, you should know why. You'll know their reactions soon...

Emma Watson: For shame for shame. You should know that I can tell you anything like that, Jen. But think about it for a moment. Would I really make it Nyo/Harry? Hmm. . .

Istalksiriusonweekends: I finished #5 at precisely 12:36 on Sunday. I'm so proud! 870 pages in a day in a half! Well, I think it was AU from the moment I introduced the idea that Harry was abused. I know what you mean, though. Don't worry, this is going to be a good story!

S: K then, it shall be as the public wishes!

Potterfreak: Are you serious? Wow. I'm not sure I've gotten a compliment like that before. Thanks a whole bunch!

Kim:Frowns: You didn't like it? What do you mean it has nothing to do with my writing? There is a lot of information in this chapter that will be pertinent in future chapters. I'm sorry if this depressed you, but things can't be happy all the time.I'm sorry if I seem defensive.I've never gotten a bad review before.

Danny's Girl: Thanks! And I shall!

Lady Reaper of the Shadows: Yeah, I know what you're talking about. There are 4 other people in my family I have to share it with. But I'm glad that you enjoyed this chapter!

Angelic Demon: Oh, I completely understand. I just thought I'd post the chapter before I left to camp for a week. I'm certain you guys wouldn't want to wait for it after you finished book 5.

Hedowl5: Is it really? I don't think I would ever have the guts to eat it. Yeah, Harry's gonna ask Hermione to marry him.I ain't saying why, but it should be amusing.

Charlie: Yay! More cool words! No worries about me not continuing, though. It goes against my reasoning to stop a story that so many people are reading. 55 reviews for four chapters? That's gotta be a sign! I'll be here all summer entertaining your reading needs. So any requests, just let me know:Smiles: Enjoy the chapter!

Wanted: A Happy Ending  
Ch5: Headmaster Harry?

Harry watched the door to his office slam shut. It was only as the angry footsteps died away from hearing range that he released his grip on his godfather's robes. Sirius ran for the door, only to find it sealed shut by magic.

"God dammit, Harry! Let me get one good shot at him! That's all I want!" Sirius shouted angrily.

"That's what he wants you to do, Sirius," Tali said, "We're not kids anymore. If you attack him, then chances are that you won't be here to greet the new students tonight."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Yes, but _when_ I attack him, he won't be there either. I think the students would thank me for that later."

"This year's going to be hell for you if you can't learn to at least tolerate Snape," Tali said impatiently.

"Not as big a hell as it'll be for him if he can't learn to keep his mouth shut!" Sirius raged, "If he insults my family one more time."

"You were never too big on your family to begin with, Padfoot," Remus reminded him.

Sirius sighed angrily, "That doesn't mean I'm going to let a scum bag like Snape insult them."

"It sounds to me like you're more upset that it was him who insulted them and not you," Tali observed.

Sirius huffed, "It doesn't matter, anyway. They're dead, it's over with now."

Harry looked questioningly between the adults in the room. He couldn't help but get the feeling that he was being left out of the conversation on purpose.

He decided to leave it alone, though, and smiled, "So, do you guys have your first lesson plans ready?"

"What's to plan? I put the kids on a broom, and make sure they don't fall off. What's so hard about that?" Sirius asked with a smile.

Tali snorted, "Good luck with that. Why do you think Hooch retired in the first place, Sirius?" (Sirius shrugged) "Every bloody year, some first year loses control of their broom and ends up in the hospital wing."

"Ah, Tals, that won't happen to me," Sirius laughed.

Tali, Remus, and Harry all rolled their eyes, "Sure it won't."

"I don't see why you're talking, Harry. It's not like you're teaching anything," Sirius said, crossing his arms.

Harry's eyes twinkled and he grinned, "Maybe not, but I still have to find something to give Hermione for her birthday. It's only a couple of weeks away."

"Buy her a box of candy; women love that kind of thing. Right, Tals?"

Tali crossed her arms, "Sirius Black, you obviously have no clue about women, do you?"

"Hey, you married me," Sirius defended.

Tali sighed and shook her head, "I know, but we're all entitled to our share of mistakes, aren't we?"

"Hey!" Sirius cried indignantly, diving at her and tickling her like crazy.

Remus and Harry hit their hands to their foreheads simultaneously, and Remus turned to Harry, "Don't listen to anything Sirius says about women, Harry. It's a sure fire way to become single again."

"Hey! If you haven't noticed, I'm married here!" Sirius exclaimed, pointing to the ring on his finger.

"Yes, well, you two are an exception," Remus said before smiling, "You're both very special."

Sirius nodded proudly before understanding the insult hidden in there and dropping his mouth open in protest.

"I still don't know what to get her," Harry said, cutting Sirius off before he could say anything.

"You'll figure it out. You have until the nineteenth," Tali said confidently.

"Yeah, and if all else fails, ask her what she wants when she gets here tonight," Sirius smiled.

"Speaking of which, we should be heading down to the Great Hall. The students will be arriving shortly," Remus said, casting a glance out the window to the darkening sky.

"Good idea. I'm starving!" Harry said, heading toward the door.

"You three go on, I have to go greet the first years," Tali said, separating from them at the gargoyle that blocked Harry's office off from the rest of the school.

"Good luck, Tals," Sirius said, "If they get rowdy, I'll send Peeves over to quiet them down."

"Oh no you won't! That's the last thing we need," Tali said, muttering to herself as she headed down the hall.

"Come on, if we hurry we might be able to snag some food from the kitchens before dinner," Harry said, pulling on the others' arms.

"Hold it, Harry," Sirius said, standing firmly in the same spot on the ground.

Harry's stomach grumbled as he gave up on fighting his godfather. He sighed and decided to save his energy. He let himself fall forward, knowing Sirius was there to keep him from falling, which he was. As he hung there, leaning over the floor, Harry began to think it might have been best to leave with Tali.

"Come on, Harry, stand up," Sirius said, pulling him up.

"Ah, Sirius, I'm hungry. What is it?" Harry asked, standing up, perturbed.

"If I'm reading him correctly, his mind has managed to work up some mischief," Remus said, rolling his eyes.

Harry grinned, eyes twinkling, and forgot about his hunger, "Really? Like what?"

Remus looked at his best friend, "Care to clue us in, Padfoot?"

"What fun would that be? Come on, I'll show you," Sirius said, pulling the two in the direction of the dungeons.

"Tali!" Hermione called out over the sea of faces in the Great Hall.

Tali, who had been busy trying to come up with a good reason for the delay in the Sorting, caused by Sirius, Harry and Remus' lack of attendance in the Hall, welcomed the distraction, "Hello, Hermione, Ron, Lavender. How are you all?"

"We're fine. We were just wondering if Harry had come with you this year?"

"Oh. Yes. Yes, he did." Tali nodded, the original source of her frustration coming back to her.

"So where is he?" Lavender asked, looking around the Hall.

Tali sighed, "If I knew that then my problems would be over."

The three laughed, "So he's run off again, then?"

"More like Sirius dragged him and Remus off somewhere. …They should be getting here soon enough, though…or at least they better," Tali shook her head.

"Okay then. We'll give him an earful for you when we see him," Ron said, walking back to the Gryffindor table.

"Tali, we need to start soon. I'm certain they'll arrive sooner or later," Professor Sprout whispered at her.

Tali cast a glance at the four empty seats at the Head Table and nodded, "Yes, I suppose you're right."

She stood up and gently hit her spoon against the rim of her glass cup. Silence fell over the students as they all gazed curiously at her, wondering what the delay was about.

"As I'm sure you have all heard," Tali said, looking around nervously, "Professor Dumbledore has recently accepted the position of Minister of Magic and Professor McGonagall has also transferred over to the Ministry. This, along with the retirement of Madame Hooch, has left three positions open. . ."

She broke off and glanced at three of the empty seats, "We have filled these positions. . .though, apparently, the replacements have not arrived yet—"

No sooner had she said this, than did the doors to the Great Hall burst open and in ran Sirius, Remus, and Harry.

"Out of the way! Quick, before he gets here!" Sirius yelled as he pushed his way through the curious first years.

Every single eye in the room followed the three as they ran to the front of the room. Curiosity seemed to reach a new peak as they all jumped over the table and into the three empty seats. Once there, they quickly straightened their robes and tried to catch their breath, but before any questions could be asked.

"Black! You and your little band of misfits can run but you can't hi—" Snape stopped in his tracks as he realized that the students had arrived.

A moment of silence met the scene but was quickly broken by several snickers. Pretty soon, the entire school was laughing as Snape stormed forward. He was followed by a pair of magically brought to life gloves that massaged shampoo into his hair. Every minute or so, the bucket that was suspended above his head dumped ice cold water over him.

"What are you talking about, Snape? We've been here for the past ten minutes," Sirius said, smiling innocently.

"Indeed! And I suppose it was a trio of your evil counterparts that did this?" Snape asked snippily as he swatted at the gloves.

The three looked at each other than back to the Potions Master, "Perhaps."

Snape scowled, "This isn't over yet! Two can play this game!"

Harry leaned over to his two friends, "Aren't there already three of us playing it?"

They smirked as Snape turned curtly and stormed out of the Hall, laughter following him the whole way. The doors to the Hall slammed shut behind him, and as soon as they did, Harry, Sirius, and Remus burst out into laughter, not noticing all the eyes that were now staring at them.

"What?" Sirius asked after he managed to calm down.

"I should have known better than to let you three wander about the castle without proper supervision," Tali said, glaring at them.

Some people in the room snickered at this, and Sirius frowned at her, "We aren't kids, Tals."

"You could have fooled me."

"Hey, it was Padfoot's idea. Not ours," Remus said, and Harry nodded earnestly.

"Yes, well, even so—" Tali started, but was cut off when Madame Pomfrey cleared her throat and nodded at the students who were all staring at them.

"Er…right. We'll finish this discussion later," Tali then turned to students.

"Hey, Harry! What are you doing up there?" Seamus Finnegan shouted from his seat at the Gryffindor table.

Harry sweatdropped and rubbed the back of his head, "Er…"

"Aren't you going to say something, Harry?" Tali asked, tapping her foot.

Harry looked across the sea of faces and than back to her, "Do I have to?"

"You should explain everything to them, Harry," Remus agreed, "They'll find out soon enough as it is."

"Fine," Harry said reluctantly as he shook his head and stood up, "Hi."

Silence met him, and Harry looked around at the many familiar faces, and those faces of the first years who stared at him in awe. Harry shifted his weight to his other foot, no matter how many times he was forced into the spotlight; he doubted he would ever like it.

"Er—I guess you're all wondering what I'm doing up here." Harry started and many nodded, "Well…first, let me introduce you to your new Flying professor, Sirius Black."

There was a rather enthusiastic applause by all those who had been at Hogwarts the previous year. Harry waited for it to die down until he started again, "And Professor Black—er…Professor Tali Black has been switched to your Transfiguration professor."

Once again, Harry was interrupted by the students who applauded. "Finally, Remus Lupin, as some of you older students might remember, has come back as your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."

At this, there was a mixed response. All the fourth years and above, with the exception of the Slytherins, applauded loudly. From the Slytherin table, many booed and, in very raised voices, protested that they wouldn't have a werewolf teach them.

"I'm sure some of you," Harry spoke again, silencing everyone, "are worried about Professor Lupin's monthly problem. Well, you can rest assured that that will not be a problem. I can personally guarantee you that he is no longer a werewolf."

At this, nothing less than an uproar exploded from the student body. People were shouting left in right in disbelief.

"How the hell do you cure a werewolf?" Pansy Parkinson demanded to know.

"There has been a potion recently discovered that cured him," Sirius spoke over the noise.

"Who the hell invented it?" asked another Slytherin.

Harry was quite content to not answer that, but, apparently, others weren't.

"Harry did!" Ron shouted from the Gryffindor table, "So why don't you do us all a favor and stuff your foot in your mouth!"

For not the first time that evening, silence fell over the room. And, also not for the first time, all eyes rested upon Harry who groaned and shook his head, making a note of it to discuss the meaning of the word privacy with Ron later.

There was, not surprisingly, no more argument over whether Remus was cured or not, but another question was quickly shouted out into the silence, "Hey, Harry! You never answered me. Why are you up there?"

Harry sent a 'you-know-this-is-exactly-what-I-wanted-to-avoid' look at his companions seated on either side of him. Remus patted his shoulder, "Just get it over with, Harry."

"Right. Well, to put it simply: I'm the new Headmaster," Harry said, bracing himself for the explosion of discussion that didn't disappoint.

"He's the Headmaster?"

"Isn't he too young?"

"He hasn't even graduated yet!"

"This is so cool!"

"We can get away with anything now!" ("Ron!" Hermione said disapprovingly.)

"Why the hell didn't he tell us?"

"He's got a lot of explaining to do!"

"Why don't you take over, Tali?" Harry suggested, taking a seat.

"Quiet! Quiet, please!" she shouted over the room in response. Slowly, silence crept upon the room.

"Yes, you will all have plenty of time to talk later, but as of the moment, I need to sort the first years," Tali said and there was a nervous shuffle among the first years.

Looking out among their faces, Harry's gaze fell upon Nyo, which wasn't very hard to do, considering that she was double the height of those she was standing with. She looked as nerve racked as the others did. Harry caught her gaze and smiled at her. She gave him a shaky smile back before both turned their attention back to Tali, who was already on the "C's". Harry looked on, a bit disappointed that he had missed the Sorting Hat's song.

"Cretcher, Julian." A boy with sandy brown hair walked forward. He gulped and took a seat on the stool. It wasn't long until the hat shouted, "RAVENCLAW!"

The Sorting wasn't much different than that.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

And "Glover, Reanna" became the first new Gryffindor.

It seemed, to Harry at least, that the Sorting was taking longer than normal. He supposed it might have had something to do with the fact that his stomach was threatening to jump out of his body if he didn't eat soon, and Harry was seriously beginning to wish that he hadn't had such an early lunch when the Sorting was over, with the exception of one person.

"Students, this is Nyoka Rill. She and her family have just moved here from Ireland. She's a seventh year, and I expect that, whatever house she is sorted into, you will help her adjust," Tali said as Nyo took a seat on the stool.

Harry stole glances at Ron, Hermione, and Lavender and noticed that they were all staring at Nyo in anticipation. Harry turned his attention to her as well and waited…and waited…and waited until a total of ten minutes had gone by.

"What's wrong with the hat?" Harry asked Remus in a whisper.

"I don't know," Remus whispered back, "It hardly takes longer than three minutes at most."

"With the exception of you, Harry," Sirius said, dropping in on the conversation, "But even then it was only five minutes, or so I heard."

Nyo's head whipped in the direction of the Slytherin table, and Harry was almost positive that he saw her hunch her shoulders over in defeat. He looked back to his friends, and Ron raised his eyebrows at him. Harry shrugged in a way that said "don't ask me." Ron shook his head and whispered something to Hermione and Lavender which caused Lavender to hit him.

"Gryffindor," the Sorting Hat finally said, far from its normal shouting of the house.

Nyo pulled the hat off her head very shakily and walked over to the Gryffindor table where Hermione scooted over to give her a seat between her and Lavender. Tali took the hat and stool off to the side and took her seat next to Sirius.

Harry stood up, "Before we eat, I have a few start of term notices. First, Fil—er. Mr. Filch wishes to remind you that the list of all things banned from the hallway is posted on his office door. Second, please remember that the Forbidden Forest is off limits—"

At that, there came several loud snorts, namely from the Head table and his friends at the Gryffindor table. Harry smiled, his eyes twinkling, "Hey, I'm not a student anymore."

Quite a few people snorted again at that, and Harry rolled his eyes before continuing, "Finally, there will be a Back-to-School Ball next Saturday. With that in mind, may you all enjoy dinner."

As he said this, food appeared on the table, and Harry was so quick to start piling food on his plate that he hardly noticed the excited jabbering that broke out at the news of the Ball.

"Slow down, Harry, the food's not going anywhere," Remus said as Harry shoved a whole boiled potato in his mouth.

Harry shrugged and swallowed, "I told you I was hungry. We should have never had that early lunch."

"I don't recall us deciding that there would be a dance, Harry," Tali said with a small smile.

Once again, Harry shrugged, "Come on, you have to admit, we could all use a little fun after last year."

"He's got you there, Tals," Sirius smirked.

Tali rolled her eyes and piled more food on her plate, "I suppose...am I to guess that this'll be a yearly event?"

"Of course!" Harry smiled before frowning, "Think you have enough?"

Tali looked down at her plate, "It's like you said, Harry. We should have never had that early lunch."

Sirius laughed, clapping her shoulder, "She takes after me."

Before long, the aching in his stomach that had been bothering him for the past few hours had finally disappeared. Harry sighed contentedly and leaned back in his chair, listening to the remnants of a small argument that had started between Sirius and Tali about "being a bad influence on Harry," referring to the incident with Snape at the beginning of dinner.

Harry was about to jump to Sirius' defense when the desserts disappeared. Harry sighed and stood up, "Okay, I hope you all enjoyed your first meal of the term at Hogwarts. Prefects, please lead the first years back to the Common Rooms."

There was a scraping of chairs, and Harry quickly headed towards the doors that would take him to the safety of his office. However, before he was even half way there, a voice rang out over the noise that filled the room.

"Harry Potter! Don't you run away from me!"

Harry froze, took a deep breath, and turned to see Ron, Hermione, Lavender, and Nyo (who was being hastily dragged over by Lavender) hurrying over to him.

"Er...hi." Harry said, laughing shortly.

"Harry! Why didn't you tell us?" Hermione asked shrilly.

Harry thought for a moment before chuckling nervously, "Surprise?"

They looked at him a moment before cracking smiles and laughing as well. Hermione rolled her eyes, "I should have known something was up when Ron was made Headboy."

"He was what?" Harry exclaimed, glancing over at his red-haired friend who had the shiny badge pinned to the front of his robes.

"Didn't you know?" Hermione asked and Harry shook his head, "Oh, well, Ron and I were made Headboy and girl, and Lavender and Neville were made prefects. …And I guess you were made Headmaster."

"Bloody hell, Harry! This is awesome!" Ron exclaimed, clapping him on the shoulder.

Harry shrugged, "It wasn't my idea. They offered it to me."

"Not just that, the whole thing with Snape! And he can't even do anything to you anymore!" Ron laughed.

"That wasn't my idea either, it was Padfoot's," said Harry before thinking, "All I wanted to do was go to the kitchens for a snack."

Lavender snorted, "Careful, Harry. You're beginning to sound like Ron."

Ron dropped his mouth open in indignation, "Well, I never!"

"Congrats on making Gryffindor," Harry smiled, turning to Nyo.

"Thanks," Nyo said grinned back at him before ducking slightly behind Lavender, though not before Harry noticed a slight blush.

Shrugging it off, he turned back to Hermione, "So, are you looking forward to your first day of classes tomorrow?"

Hermione nodded brightly, but Ron groaned, "Not hardly, I hear I have double Divination first thing. That class is going to suck some serious ass now that you're not in it."

Lavender gasped, "Ron! I'll be in there, too, in case you've forgotten."

Ron rolled his eyes, "Yeah, but you actually take that class seriously."

"Face it, Ron, you better get used to Divination. I'm willing to bet money that Lavender's going to take over Kismet's someday," Hermione with a small smile.

"Oh! You really think so, Hermione?" Lavender asked, sounding ecstatic.

"You _had_ to go there, Herms," Ron groaned.

"You four best get up to the tower," Remus said as he, Sirius, and Tali walked up to the group.

Hermione looked around the Hall and her eyes widened when she noticed that even the Professors had all left, "Oh! Right!"

She gave Harry a quick kiss, "See you tomorrow, Harry."

Harry nodded, "Right. And I guess I should just tell you all now, the password to my office is 'PJ.' If you need me, that's where I'll be."

The next morning, Harry was sitting at the Gryffindor table, talking animatedly with Ron, Dean, and Seamus.

"No way! You have to stay on the team, Harry!" Seamus exclaimed.

Harry laughed and shook his head, "I can't. I'm the Headmaster now, it 'goes against school policy,' or at least that was Tali said. I have to 'remain neutral' or some rubbish like that. Everyone knows I was in Gryffindor last year."

The three groaned and smacked their hands to their foreheads, "We're doomed!"

"Calm down. You saw Cho's replacement last year, he wasn't any good, and Hufflepuff hasn't had a decent seeker since Cedric. And now that Malfoy's gone, too, you'll do fine...rather, you better or else I'll hex you," Harry smiled and turned to Ron, "Looks like you're the captain now, Ron. Good luck keeping these blokes in shape."

Seamus and Dean mock-glared at Harry who laughed, "I'm just kidding."

"Sure you are, Harry," Dean rolled his eyes.

"Hey, Ron, why didn't you wait for us this morning?" Lavender asked as she, Hermione, and Nyo sat down.

Ron sighed, "There are three of you now, besides you knew where I was going to be."

"Hello, Harry," Hermione interrupted, kissing him briefly.

"Looking lovely, as usual, 'Mione," Harry smiled at her.

Lavender turned to Ron, "Why can't you be more romantic like that, Ron?"

Ron shrugged, "I don't know."

"That's a real winner of an excuse," Lavender said sarcastically.

"Oh! Mail's here!" Seamus smiled as numerous owls flew into the Hall.

A large number of them flew to the Gryffindor table and deposited letters to Harry who looked as puzzled as everyone else in the Hall. He picked up one that was right in front of him and looked it over.

"What's with all the mail?" Ron wondered out loud.

Harry shrugged and opened it, reading it out loud:

_"Dear Mr. Potter,  
My sons, you may know them, Colin and Dennis Creevy, have just written to me with the news that you are the new Headmaster of Hogwarts. And, I must say, I can't imagine a better pick! I had my doubts that the Board would be able to find a suitable replacement for Dumbledore, but I guess that I was wrong. Congratulations on your appointment!  
Best Wishes,  
Mr. & Mrs. Sam and Mary Creevey"_

Harry sighed and set the paper down as his friends looked through the other letters.

"They're all like that," Nyo said, setting another letter down.

"Why am I not surprised?" Harry asked, looking through more letters.

"Don't sound so depressed, Harry," Ron said, rolling his eyes, "They're all supporting you."

"Hey, Harry, this one's not a congratulations letter," Dean said, handing Harry an official looking green piece of parchment.

_"Dear Mr. Potter,  
It has come to our attention that you are the mysterious donator/creator of the Opium Dresigs supply that was dropped off at our facility last week. We would like to thank you profusely and let you know that, so far, a total of forty three werewolves have been cured. It is, therefore, understandable when I inform you that I, and the rest of the wizarding world, wish to give you the Amity Accolade Award, more commonly known as the AAA, for your services to wizarding kind. The award ceremony will take place on September 29 at St Mungo's. If this date is inconvenient please let us know as soon as possible, if it is fine, please contact us ASAP anyway.  
Thank you,  
Melinda Spenser  
Head Healer of St Mungo's"_

Harry groaned, "Not another one."

"Wow! Harry, no one's received the AAA in over eighty years!" Hermione exclaimed.

This caused Harry to sigh and shake his head, "Great, just what I needed: more publicity."

He pulled a quill out and reluctantly wrote a reply:

_Dear Ms Spenser,  
Yes, the 29th sounds fine, but I think you should know that I, alone, didn't find the cure. Professor Severus Snape assisted me in creating the Opium Dresigs. If you intend on giving me the AAA, you should give it to him as well. I will see you on the 29th.  
Sincerely,  
Harry Potter_

Harry whistled, and Hedwig came zooming into the room. The first years that were present stared at the beautiful white phoenix as she flew to her master and landed delicately on his shoulder. Harry tied the letter to her leg and gave her a piece of his toast before she flew out of the Hall again.

"Well now that that's over—" Ron started.

"Oh Merlin..." Nyo said quietly as an owl came swooping into the room, headed straight for her.

"A little late there, isn't he?" Lavender commented.

Nyo frowned irritably as the owl dropped off a steaming red letter before flying back out of the room.

"A Howler?" asked Ron, "What'd you do?"

Nyo looked at him, "Knowing my parents, probably nothing." Then, shaking her head, she took up the Howler and slowly slid her finger under the lip. Instantly, the voice Harry recognized as her father filled the Hall.

"NYOKA RILL! HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU GET IN GRYFFINDOR! DIDN'T WE TELL YOU NOT TO ARGUE WITH THE HAT?"

Nyo looked down, her face burning bright red as everyone stared at her.

"YOU'RE A DISGRACE TO THIS FAMILY! YOUR MOTHER AND I ARE COMPLETELY DISGUSTED! HOW DARE YOU TAINT OUR NAMES! YOU BETTER GET THIS SORTED OUT BEFORE I HAVE TO COME AND SORT IT OUT MYSELF!"

A new voice, a female voice that Harry remembered as Nyo's mother's, broke in, "AND IF YOU THINK FOR ONE INSTANT OF CHANGING THE DOUBLE 'S' FOR THE LION THEN CONSIDER YOURSELF SEVERED FROM THIS FAMILY!"

The letter floated up a few feet before shredding into tiny pieces and falling to the table, the voice of the woman still echoing off the walls.

Nyo, besides looking a little startled, appeared relatively unaffected by the ordeal. "So much for being subtle," she muttered to herself before glancing at Dean, "Pass the butter, please."

Dean dumbly handed over the requested, staring at her, "What was _that_ about?"

For a long moment, it looked as if she had chosen to ignore the question. She buttered her toast and had fully eaten it before shrugging, "They wanted me in Slytherin."

Those around her traded looks as the girl in question grabbed her bookbag and hurried out of the Great Hall, slamming the doors slightly louder than she had most likely intended.

"What was that about?" Dean asked again.

Hermione blinked a few times and shook her head, "I don't know."

Ron cleared his throat, "Yeah, well, we better get to Divination."

Lavender, Dean, Seamus, and Neville nodded and the group left the Great Hall. Hermione turned to Harry, "That couldn't really have been her parents, could it?"

Harry nodded, "I think so. I met them outside Wheezes over the summer…they didn't seem very nice."

Hermione stood up and picked up her bags, "Nice? Try down right nasty. What's wrong with Gryffindor? And what's 'the double s?'"

Harry stood up and the two left the Great Hall, "I don't know."

Hermione stopped and turned to him, "Harry, you don't have any classes to get to, why don't you go find her? I really don't think she was heading to class."

"Sure," Harry said, kissing her goodbye and looking down both directions of the hall.

He thought for a moment hitting his head and rolling his eyes. Pulling out his wand, he said, "Accio Marauder's Map."

It didn't take more than a few seconds for one of the most useful pieces of parchment Harry had ever owned came flying into his hand. He smiled and tapped his wand to the parchment, "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."

The map came to life, and Harry noticed that most people were in their classrooms already…most. After spotting what he needed, Harry folded the map, tucked it away, and headed towards his old tower. As there were no crowds of students, he made it there in record time.

"Password?" asked the Fat Lady.

"Merlin's Beard," Harry said promptly.

The portrait opened, and Harry climbed through. He smiled at the familiar sights and smells that greeted him. The place hadn't changed one bit. His attention was drawn elsewhere, however, by a loud crash coming from the girls' dormitories. Apparating to save himself the problem of the protection mechanism the girls' stairway held, Harry quietly pushed open the door leading to the seventh year girls' dorm.

Upon entering the room, the first thing he noticed was a broken mirror much like the one Sirius had given shown him earlier that summer. According to him, it was one of a pair that he and Harry's father had used while back in school when they had separate detentions.

Willing to bet that she had been using it to speak with her parents not long before he had gotten there, Harry's eyes moved to the bed where Nyo was currently sitting, scribbling furiously in a black bound leather notebook.

"Nyo?" he asked carefully.

She looked up at the voice and blushed slightly when she realized who it was and stood up, "Oh, hello, Professor."

Harry scrunched his nose, "Don't call me that, it makes me sound old. Harry will do."

She gave a small smile before going back to her scribbling. Harry moved to Lavender's bed which was next to hers and sat down, "I take it your parents didn't take the news well?"

Nyo snorted, "Not hardly. I'm sorry. I'll get to class."

She started to stand up, but Harry shook his head, "No, no, it's alright. What do you have?"

"Arithmancy."

"Oh, that's Vector's class. Don't worry about it. I'll talk to him about it," Harry said smiling.

Nyo sat back down and looked at him, "Thanks."

"It's no problem," Harry smiled again, "…So, you want to talk about it?"

Nyo looked down, "It's nothing. I knew I'd be getting an earful…I just thought they might have wanted to be a bit more subtle about it."

"Are they always that upset?" Harry asked, surprised.

"You could say that," Nyo said bitterly, "They're always raving about how great Slytherin is. They told me I'd regret it if I didn't make it."

Harry looked at her, "Regret it?"

She blushed again as if she had said too much and shrugged, "No biggie. Just more chores to do. Our house elf won't mind. You get used to it. Listen, I better get to class."

Harry nodded and stood up, "I'll walk you there. I don't want Vector giving you any trouble."

She took a deep breath and smiled broadly, dismissing any troubles she might have still held in regards to the Howler, "Whatever floats your boat."

The walk to Arithmancy was completely silent. Once or twice, Harry tried to make conversation, and Nyo answered them jovially, though their conversation always inevitably fell into long lulls. When they reached the classroom, Nyo slipped into a seat near Hermione close to the back.

"Ah, Headmaster, what can I help you with?" asked Vector.

"I'm just dropping Nyo off. She was with me," Harry said and Vector nodded before continuing with his lesson.

Just before he left, he caught Hermione's eye. They smiled at each other and Hermione mouthed, "Love you."

Harry grinned like an idiot and mouthed the same thing back before blowing a kiss at her. Some of the students saw this and, namely the girls, giggled. Hermione blushed and blew him a kiss back before continuing to take notes.

Harry winked and Hermione looked up at the new words that had appeared on her parchment. Suppressing giggles, she found his eye and nodded. Harry smiled and left the room.

'Lunch it is, then,' he thought happily to himself.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, there it is! I'm back from camp, I've hit my trigger chapter, and I have all summer! So guess what? The stories are gonna keep on coming! Don't forget, any new reviewers who want in on the mailing list, just say so.

NEXT CHAPTER: A trip to Hogsmeade, Tali has some BIG news, and Harry seeks out advice on what to get Hermione for her birthday.


	6. Ch6: The Day of BIG News

Athenakitty: You mean for this chapter.lol, you'll see. Yeah, Harry will meet Nyo's parents.not saying when, where, or why, though. As for Snape, you'll find out eventually. I know I'm evil. What else will who do?

Angelic Demon16: Yeah, I know. How totally annoying is that? is WAY too slow when it comes to that kind of thing. Well, I'm glad that you finally got to read it. Thanks for the review!

Magicman: Oh, yes, that will be quite interesting. I'm not sure but a lot of things will probably be revealed when they meet.

Hedowl5: Lol, is Tali pregnant? Maybe, maybe not. Guess you'll find out this chapter, won't you? Is Harry gonna ask Herms on her b-day? Well. her b- day is a couple of chapters away, but you'll find out then.

Ears91: Thanks! I will!

Maxwell Coffee House: Don't worry about it. I've been traveling, too. But I'm home for the rest of the summer, yay! And I'm glad that you like my writing. Thanks a lot!

Istalksiriusonweekends: I tried! I'm not sure if this is getting out by Wednesday when I'm writing this. But I'm gonna try to!

Kim: Oh, don't worry. Yes, I completely understand. I appreciate the explanation, though! Yay! You don't hate my story!

Ladee Sakura Evenstar Night: You silly! The next chapter is right here! Thanks for the review!

Charlie: YAY! Another cool word! And just between you and me.I don't really care how often I get told it gets better.it always boosts my confidence! Thanks! And SURE! If you wanna be on the mailing list, I'd be more than happy to have you.I just need you e-mail and we'll be set! Look forward to it!

BookCrazy77: Thanks!

Damson Rhee: Wow, first of all, I just want to really thank you. I've gotten more reviews from you in the past few days than I have for many of my one-shot stories! I'm glad you like them so much! Congrats on becoming the newest member of my mailing list, and I hope you weren't waiting too long for this chapter.

Fan: Yeah, H/Hr is my favorite couple as well. And just to alleviate your worries, yes, it's a H/Hr story. :Smiles: I can't tell you exactly what I'm planning with Nyo.but.it'll be interesting.

X13: No way! H/Hr all the way. Though.I'm not sure if you can tell, Nyo is kinda developing a crush on Harry. If you couldn't tell that.just forget I told you that.

Lady Reaper of the Shadows: Lol, you're the second one to ask me that. Well, I'm not telling, cause it's in the chapter, you'll have to wait, sorry. So you play bassoon, huh? Isn't that kinda like a clarinet?

Wanted: A Happy Ending  
Ch6: The Day of BIG News

"Hey, cool idea, Harry!" a Ravenclaw boy smiled as he dashed past Harry and his friends.

Harry smiled at the back of the boy, "Glad you think so."

The couple of girls that were with the boy giggled and turned away, blushing. Harry sighed and shook his head, "You know, you think they'd stop doing that after the first couple of days."

"Try first couple of years," Hermione laughed. "Those are fourth years."

Harry rolled his eyes and took Hermione's hand before turning into Three Broomsticks, "Good, looks like we're early. No one else from the school is in here yet."

"I still can't believe you gave the entire school Friday off to go to Hogsmeade," Hermione said with a smile.

Harry laughed and pulled Hermione's chair out for her, "Hey, people need to get stuff to wear to the Ball, don't they?"

"You were just looking for an excuse to get me out of Hogwarts to eat," Hermione laughed, shaking her head.

"Ah," Harry said, taking his own seat, "if you recall correctly, my dear, I'm Headmaster. I don't need a reason to get you out of Hogwarts."

"Oh what travesties are to befall our beloved school now that you're in charge," Hermione joked.

Harry pretended to be hurt and put his hand on hers, but didn't say anything, for at that instant, Madame Rosmetta came over to them in a hurry, something Harry had grown used to over the past few months. If there was one perk to his renewed popularity, it was that he hardly had to wait for anything anymore.

"What can I get for you two today?" Rosmetta asked with a smile as she observed Harry's hand on Hermione's.

"I think I'll just have a chicken salad and raspberry lemonade, please," Hermione asked.

"And I'll take a plate of spaghetti and a cup of Mr. Phibb," Harry said.

"One chicken salad, one spaghetti coming up," Rosmetta said before hurrying off.

"So what were we talking about?" Hermione asked.

Harry grinned, "You were just getting ready to tell me about your dress for the Ball."

Hermione breathed a laugh and shook her head, "I don't think so, Harry. I told you, it's a surprise."

"I'll never understand women," Harry said, shaking his head.

"That," Hermione said with a frown, "was a low blow, Harry. A low blow."

"I was just kidding, Herms. Lighten up a bit," Harry said as Rosmetta returned with their food.

"So how are classes going for you?" Harry asked, taking a bite of his pasta.

Hermione brightened up instantly, "Oh! They're going wonderfully! Everyone seems to think that I'm going to be valedictorian!"

Harry smiled at her, "I could have told you that."

Hermione frowned, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Huh?" Harry asked, confused.

"You weren't going to hand it to me just because we're going out, were you?" Hermione looked at him very seriously.

Harry dropped his fork and stared at her indignantly, "Hermione! Of course not! I've known you'd graduate top in the class since first year!"

Hermione blushed and looked down, "Of course...I'm sorry, Harry."

Harry closed his mouth and nodded, "It's alright. Being Headmaster does have some advantages, though."

"Like what?"

Smiling, Harry scooted his chair closer to hers, "Like I can pull you out of class any time I want to for no reason at all."

Hermione giggled and looked at him, "And why, Headmaster, would you want to do that?"

Harry leaned over to her ear, "To tell you how beautiful you are."

He grinned at the blush that crept upon her face. And, before she could say anything else, Harry kissed her. Hermione, completely lost herself in the kiss and it wasn't until she felt herself being stared at that she broke it.

Harry groaned, perturbed, and, without even turning around, "Hello, Ron."

"Er…hi! Sorry to interrupt you two, but, well, Lavender dragged Nyo into the dress shop, and they wouldn't let me come, not that I wanted to in the first place, so now I'm by myself and—" Ron started.

Harry looked at Hermione and she nodded, "Sit down, Ron."

"Harry! Hermione! Ron! What are the odds of seeing you here?"

Sirius, Remus, and Tali took the remaining seats at the table and smiled at the three, "Oh! Sorry, were we interrupting you two?"

"No, no. We were finished," Hermione said in a voice that clearly contradicted what she had said.

"Sorry," Remus winced.

"It's alright. I'll just have to use some of my advantages later," Harry said with a wicked glance at Hermione who blushed.

"Er…I'm just going to leave that alone," Sirius said, leaning back in his chair.

"You sure you're done?" Tali asked.

"Yeah," Harry and Hermione sighed.

"Oh good! Are you planning on finishing that?" she asked Hermione eagerly who pushed the bowl to her, having lost her appetite.

Sirius looked at her, "You're kidding! Tals, you just lunch before we came."

Tali frowned, "First of all, all I had were a couple of sandwiches. And second, _you_ ate half of them, _darling_."

Sirius laughed and clapped her on the shoulder, "So I did, so I did. Looks like I'm beginning to rub off on you, eh, Tals?"

"Guess so," Tali rolled her eyes.

"You finished with that?" Sirius asked Harry.

Harry rolled his eyes and handed Sirius the plate. Sirius instantly started inhaling the spaghetti roughly at the rate of an army.

Ron turned to Sirius and Tali, who seemed to be having a contest to see who could finish off their food first, with his mouth open, "You two are a couple of pigs, you know."

"Hey!" Sirius said indignantly.

"You ate a lunch and a half already, Padfoot," Remus reminded him with a smirk.

"Yeah? Well…well..." Sirius desperately searched for a comeback, "So?"

Everyone at the table snorted and Sirius mock-glared at them, "You all are so mean sometimes."

"We're just playing, Padfoot," Harry playfully shoved Sirius' shoulder, "You know we love you."

"Yeah, yeah, sure you do," Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

"I GOT IT! I GOT IT! I GOT IT!"

Those at the table turned to see Lavender and Nyo running into the store, or, rather, Lavender running into the store pulling Nyo along by her wrist.

"Bloody hell, Lavender. You think you could've been any rougher?" Nyo asked when she was released, rubbing her wrist.

Lavender ignored her and turned excitedly to Ron, "Ron! Guess what? I got it! The only one they had, and I got it!"

"Got what?" Ron asked daftly.

Lavender sighed, "My dress for the Ball, silly. Don't you remember? That _was_ the whole point in Harry giving us the day off to come to Hogsmeade."

"Which, by the way," Tali interjected, "I might point out is highly unorthodox."

"Oh, give it a rest, Tals. The Ball's in two days, and half the school didn't have anything to wear," Sirius said, glancing over Hermione's shoulder, "Oh good, food's here!"

Lavender and Nyo pulled up chairs, and Harry ordered six more Butterbeers, "Did you get your dress, too, Herms?"

Hermione nodded, "Yes, it's absolutely lovely! It's—"

"Hermione!" Lavender exclaimed, "Shh! You can't tell them. It's supposed to be a surprise, remember?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Yes, that's what you keep telling me."

"What about you, Nyo?" asked Harry.

She nodded, "Yeah, I don't know why I even bothered getting one, though. It's not like I have anyone to go with."

"Oh, don't worry, Nyo!" Lavender said cheerfully, "I know the perfect guy for you!"

Nyo eyed her, "Do I even want to know?"

Lavender only smiled into her Butterbeer which had recently been dropped off and Hermione turned to Nyo, "I think that's a no."

"In other news, you two are just in time. Tali here is working on putting Ron to shame," Sirius joked, nodding his head at his wife.

Ron crossed his arms and muttered something about how everyone always picked on him while Tali's eyes narrowed and she turned to him, "What?"

"Er...it was a joke, Tals. I'm sorry. Didn't mean it, honest," Sirius said, sensing an oncoming storm.

Instead of exploding at him, however, Tali's eyes watered up and she fled from the store, "You think I'm fat!"

Sirius winced and chased after her, "Wait, Tali! I didn't mean it like that! Come back here! You're not fat! You're skinny!"

"Oh! So now you're saying that I'm bony?" Tali fumed, spinning around at the door.

"No! No, what I meant was—was that…Merlin, you're awfully sensitive today, aren't you?"

"So now I'm emotional, too, huh?" Tali asked furiously before storming out of the store.

"Tals!" Sirius called after her before disappearing behind the door as well.

Everyone in the store stared after them, unblinking, for several minutes. Soon enough, however, the many mixed conversations reappeared again. Remus, Lavender, Harry, and Hermione let out laughs and went back to their Butterbeers.

Nyo looked between them, "Shouldn't we go after them?"

"No, they'll be fine. They always fight around this time of the month," Remus said with a hint of a smile.

"Thanks for that, Remus," Harry said, shaking his head, before turning to Nyo, "He's right, though. They've probably already made up by now."

"Oh, alright then," Nyo took a sip of her drink, "So, did you two get your clothes for the Ball?"

The boys nodded dutifully, and Hermione and Lavender cast doubtful glances at Ron.

"What?" he asked, "I got mine already."

"Really?" Lavender asked, "You mean to tell me Mr. Procrastinator here has prepared ahead of time?"

Ron nodded, "Harry gave me a couple dozen pairs."

The girls looked at Harry and he laughed, "Madame Malkin sent me half of her store a few weeks after I came back. Half the clothes didn't fit me, so I gave them to Ron, Sirius, and Remus."

"Why didn't you just send them back?" asked Hermione.

"And give up perfectly good _free_ dress robes?" Ron asked unbelievably.

"Oh, you really are hopeless, Ron," Lavender shook her head.

Ron smirked, "You say that as if it's a bad thing."

"Hey, Harry!"

Harry turned to see Colin Creevy standing behind him with his ever faithful camera, "Hi, Colin."

"Ginny's over looking at robes if that's who you're looking for," Hermione told him.

"I know," Colin said, shaking his head, "She's been in there for three hours. Won't let me help with a thing. Says it has to be a surprise. What is it with girls and stuff like that?"

The men at the table shrugged and Ron laughed, "You figure that out, Colin, and I'll give you fifty galleons."

Colin shook his head, "That's okay, I have a job now. I don't have to waste time on that kind of thing anymore."

"Good, cause I don't have fifty galleons," Ron smiled into his Butterbeer.

"Where do you work?" asked Remus.

Colin smirked broadly, "I'm not supposed to say. You should know by June, though."

Harry eyed him, "You're not working at the Daily Prophet are you?"

Laughing, Colin shook his head, "No, but I do need to take a nice picture of you sometime this year."

"What for?" the entire table asked.

"For the C—" Colin lost his smile instantly and chuckled nervously, "Er—nothing."

"Colin..." Harry said in a warning tone.

"Oh, look, is that Ginny? I think I better be going! Bye!" with that, Colin hurried out of the store to a street that held no sign of Ron's red-headed little sister.

Harry sighed and shook his head, "Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

"Because it's Colin," Ron pointed out.

"Right," Harry said, hoping it wasn't anything too terrible.

"We should start heading back up to the castle soon. It's almost three," Remus said, draining the last from his cup.

"Right, I need to finish getting those stupid papers signed," Harry said with a groan.

"What papers?" asked Nyo as they all tossed their share of the payment on the table before making their way back into the cool September air.

"Sorry, I'm not at liberty to discuss it," Harry said with a mysterious smile.

"Ah, come on, Harry," Ron whined.

Harry laughed and came to a stop before leaning into a huddle, "I'm just picking up a few things for this year."

"What kind of things?" Hermione asked.

Harry grinned broadly, "Let's just say that Prongs Jr. has a long way to go before he retires."

"Alright!" Ron shouted excitedly, jumping up and down, "I knew you wouldn't let me down, Harry! The Marauders live on!"

Hermione, Lavender, and Remus all smiled wickedly as Nyo stared at them, "The who?"

Ron stopped jumping about and turned to her, "You've never heard of the Marauders?"

"Well, duh. She did live in Ireland for sixteen years, Ron," Harry said, rolling his eyes.

"That's it, then!" Ron exclaimed before clapping his hand on Nyo's shoulder, "Nyo, strap yourself in, you're about to be inducted into the Marauders!"

"Yes, very good, but who are 'the Marauders'?" Nyo asked.

The five sweatdropped and Ron patted Nyo's shoulder, "We've got a lot of work to do."

"Heads up!"

Harry dove down just in time to feel the wind of a Bludger sail over his head. He whipped around to see Sirius salute him with his bat. Harry rolled his eyes and was about to go back to searching for the snitch when Tali flew up to Sirius.

"What do you think you're doing? Sirius! Sometimes you can be so thick! What if that had hit him? You could have seriously hurt your own godson!" she screeched at him.

"Here we go again," Harry muttered under his breath.

Shaking his head, he flew over the two, "Tali, I'm fine. Padfoot gave me plenty of warning, besides, it wouldn't have been the first time I've been hit with a Bludger."

"That's exactly what I said!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Exactly! And remember what happened last time? You went unconscious and spent a majority of the day in the Hospital Wing!" Tali shouted, ignoring Sirius.

"That's only because Malfoy was so close!" Harry protested indignantly.

Tali turned to him as if she had only just realized that he was there. Her eyes widened and tears started to gather. He was within arms distance, and she pulled him into a hug, "Oh, Harry! I'm so glad you're alright!"

Harry in took a sharp breath just before the full impact of the hug hit him. His broom collided roughly with Tali's as he peered over her shoulder at Sirius, and now, Remus.

"Help," he choked out.

"Tals, I think you're doing more damage to him than I was," Sirius laughed.

Tali pouted and let go of him, "You're so mean, Sirius."

"Yeah, but we might as well finish discussion on the ground, looks like Harry's going to beat us there as it is," Sirius said as they turned to see Harry speeding towards the ground.

"Got it!" Harry called out as he closed his hands around the Snitch.

A loud clapping met his ears, and Harry glanced downward to see the Gryffindor Quidditch team clapping vigorously for him. He smiled sheepishly, not aware that he had been watched.

"Sirius Black! Don't you fly away from me!" Tali yelled angrily as she and Sirius darted past Harry towards the ground.

"Think we ought to save him?" Remus asked with a bemused smile as he came to a stop next to Harry.

"We could..." Harry led off, "Or we could just let them at it and see what happens."

Remus laughed as the two slowly made their way to the ground, "What'd Padfoot say this time?"

"I'm not exactly sure." Remus said thoughtfully, "I think it was something about women being too emotional every month."

Harry snorted, "Are you serious?"

Remus nodded grimly, "I'm afraid that in all his years of living and learning, Padfoot has yet to learn the finer points of etiquette and tact."

"I don't find that hard to believe," Harry smiled as they touched down.

"Hiya, Harry!" Ron greeted enthusiastically, "Is that it?"

Harry smiled and held up the broom, "Yeah, this is the Starshooter 83."

The Gryffindors goggled at the stick in Harry's hand; Megan actually started to drool a bit, "It's not fair! It doesn't even come out for_ever_!"

"Mind you, he did kill Voldemort, Megan," Ginny rolled her eyes.

Megan pursed her lips but nodded, "I suppose."

"What are you guys doing out here anyway? Shouldn't you be in class?" Sirius asked.

"Where's Tali?" Remus asked.

"She headed up to Madame Pomfrey. She said she has a headache," Sirius said, shaking his head, "I think it's probably those twelve cauldron cakes she had after her last class today."

"Twelve?" Harry exclaimed.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Sirius said with a heavy sigh, "So what are you guys doing out here?"

"Quidditch practice. Classes have been out for an hour already," Ron said, casually prodding his chest out to display his captain badge. He had been co-captain last year, but, this year, now that Harry was no longer a student, he was going solo in the position of captain.

"Practice?" Harry asked, "Don't you need to find a Seeker first?"

"For once, Harry, I'm way ahead of you," Ron smiled, stepping aside, "Allow me to introduce you to our new Seeker."

"Nyo?" Sirius, Remus, and Harry asked at the same time.

"Yeah, she's nearly as good as you," Dean said, "Still has a long way to go though."

Nyo laughed, "Quite a long way. I've heard nothing but stories about the games you played in over the years."

"I wouldn't be too worried about it. You'll never be Harry, but you'll do fine. Especially considering that you have the Firebolt. That's two on the team now!" Megan exclaimed.

"I wonder what ever happened to my old Firebolt." Harry asked himself as he led off into thought.

He remembered all too well when he had been knocked off the broom at the beginning of the previous year by a couple of Death Eaters. It had nearly been the end of him there, but he had made it out alive, not that he could say the same about the broom which had yet to be seen again.

"It sure is weird not having you play Quidditch this year, though, Harry," Colin said, downcast.

"Hey, it could be worse," Megan said in her typical filled-to-the-brim-with- self-pride voice, "He could be playing against us, then he'd have to lose."

"Is that so?" Harry asked with a smirk.

"Sorry, Harry, but a Seeker can only do so much," Megan said shortly.

"Really?" Harry asked with the same devious smile.

"Uh oh," Ron said, rolling his eyes, "Looks like you've gone and given him another idea."

"What do you say we put that theory to a test, Megan," Harry smiled.

"What kind of a test?" she asked, not daring to back down.

"We'll play you. Then we'll just see how useful a Seeker is."

"Who's 'we'?" Megan asked.

Harry motioned behind him at Sirius and Remus, "A team made up of the Professors and myself against Gryffindor."

Megan narrowed her eyes, "You're on!"

Harry smiled smugly as the Gryffindor team jumped on Megan, "What are you crazy?"

"Yeah, play against them? We'll never win!"

"Oh, have a little faith would you?" Megan said, perturbed.

"Last time I checked, Megan, I was the captain," Ron said pointedly.

"What? So now you're going to back down?" Megan asked.

Ron glared at her before sighed, "Fine. Fine, we'll play the stupid game."

"Excellent!" Harry said enthusiastically.

"Oh, you're so dead," Sirius said, laughing as he shook his head.

"Well, I guess we better practice then, hadn't we?" Ron asked, mounting his broom and kicking off.

The team quickly followed him, but Harry held Nyo back, "Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Nyo glanced at her teammates in the sky before nodding, "Sure."

Harry smiled and pulled her towards the bleachers, "You're a girl, right."

Nyo frowned, "I'd like to think so, yes."

"Er, sorry. Didn't mean it like that," Harry winced, "Anyway, you know that Hermione's birthday is coming up, right?"

Nyo nodded, "It's on the nineteenth, isn't it?"

"Right. Well, you see, I want to get her something special. but, frankly, I have no clue what to get her," Harry sweatdropped.

"Is that it?" Nyo asked, "It can't be that hard. You've known her for practically ever, right?"

"Seven years, yeah," Harry sweatdropped even more.

"Well, what does she like?"

"Books?" Harry said weakly.

"Harry, you're her b...you're her boy...you're her boyfriend. You have to know something that she likes…other than books," Nyo added the last part after a moment of thought.

Harry thought for a minute, "She likes to dance."

"Er…that's a start," Nyo said supportively.

Harry hunched his shoulders and head in defeat, this was taking way too much effort…not that Hermione wasn't worth it. He knew he'd go to any lengths to see her smile. A dreamy grin had begun to spread on his face, and he quickly wiped it off.

"Just try to think of something that'll mean something to her," Nyo continued, not noticing.

"Mean something, right. Okay, I can do that." Harry led off.

"Hey, Nyo! Get up here and look for the Snitch!" Ron shouted from the air.

Nyo winced, "I guess I better go."

"Yeah. Thanks," Harry said as Nyo flew off into the air.

"Sirius! Sirius!"

Harry turned to see Hermione running onto the field towards Sirius as fast as her feet would carry her. Curious, he hurried over to where the group was congregating.

"Sirius! Tali's in the hospital wing!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I know that, she didn't feel well," Sirius said, not worried in the slightest.

"No! No! She's going hysterical! She's sobbing like crazy and keeps talking about life and death. You need to come talk to her!" Hermione grabbed his hand and started to pull him, though she had to quickly release him, for he was running with double the quickness that she had been.

Soon enough, Harry reached the infirmary with Remus, Hermione, and Sirius to see Lavender trying desperately to comfort Tali who was, as Hermione had said, sobbing on a bed.

Sirius ran over to her as quickly as he could, "Tali? Tals? What's wrong? Are you okay? Do you not feel well?"

Tali looked up at his voice and pulled him into a death tight hug, "Sirius! Oh, Sirius!"

"Tali? What is it?" Sirius asked, growing more nervous with each passing second.

"Sirius…I'm so...so…fat!" Tali sobbed.

Sirius instantly lost his worry and got a look in his eyes, "Tali, is that what this is all about? How many times do I have to tell you—"

"We're gonna be parents!" Tali bawled, now known to everyone, in tears of joy.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okies, another chapter done and much more to come! So super sorry it took so long to get out! I just got a job and it's actually taking up more of my time than school does! Crazy, I know. Anywho, I'll try my very best to get them out quicker! Sorry!

NEXT CHAPTER: You guessed it! Time for the Back-To-School Ball! Also, Nyo gets inducted into the Marauders. Harry talks to a couple of rather...unpleasant people. And! Harry finally starts to get an idea of what to get Hermione for her birthday.

CONTEST: Ah yes, I know, it's a bit late for this, but I can't remember if I already did this before or not. If so, I didn't get any entries. Anyway, as many of you know, this story is the sequel to Wanted: Love. Well, I'm poor, and if you decide to enter it'll be b/c you're so TOTALLY nice, but I'm holding a contest to find a "cover" for my story, Wanted: Love. If you want to enter, by all means, go ahead! The more the merrier! You can submit as many as you like! But if you do want to, please say so in your review or in an e-mail and give me your e-mail address so I can send you a list of the requirements. Thank you!


	7. Ch7: Dance Into My Heart

Hiei's Angel Sakura: Really? I was afraid it was a bit too obvious.glad I at least threw you off for a bit, though. Thanks for not yelling at me about taking so long. I hope this chapter gets out quicker.

Elessar: His reaction.I have no idea.:Grins evilly:

Athenakitty: Yeah, she's pregnant. I can't tell ya more than that, though. And I'm sorry 'bout those symbols, I'm trying to figure it out.

Ears91: Yes.then again, aren't all the Wood's a bit off the loop? Lol, thanks! I feared that I led up to it a bit too openly. And as for Sirius.lol, yeah, it'll be good.

Baby-bear: Yeah, they are a bit young, but who said that they're gonna get married right away? He just wants to propose to her.

Rachel A. Prongs:Sighs: Yeah, I know, I gave it away too much. As for Nyo, she's gonna be VERY important to the story. You don't think I would create her for no reason, do you? Lol, pretty soon you'll understand part of why she's acting strangely.

Charlie: Oops! Guess I better get my butt into gear and start writing the next chapter, shouldn't I? Wouldn't want to keep you waiting.Here I go!

Istalksiriusonweekends:Winces: I'm sorry. I know you told me how to spell it.I forgot, though.sorry! OMG:Looks around crazily: ARE YOU CRAZY? DON'T TELL ANYONE ABOUT THAT! THEY'LL SKIN ME ALIVE:Clutches heart and breathes heavily: Whatcha trying to do, kill me? Lol.

Bookcrazy77:Grins: Yay! Someone gets it from the last story! Yep, remember the rep the hotel has? Always gets 'em, everytime. Lol.

Fan: Oh, you have NO clue. Some might not consider it romantic, but it will be, trust me. It's something every girl dreams that their guy will do for them.

Hedowl5: Guess you got my e-mail.THANKS SO MUCH! Hope you got caught up on your stories!

Angelic Demon16: Lol, glad to be back in civilization? Yeah, I know, I'm gonna try to fix the marks.

Crater212: Thanks! Hope it was quick enough!

Lady Reaper of the Shadows: Lol, me either, it probably won't be until after 'Mione's b-day, though.

DISCLAIMER: There are two songs used in this chapter. Everybody Dance Now by C&C Music Factory, and I Can Love You Like That by All4one. I own neither of the two!

Wanted: A Happy Ending  
Ch7: Dance into My Heart

"We're gonna be parents!" Tali bawled, now known to everyone, in tears of joy.

Silence echoed off the walls in the infirmary for seemingly an eternity. Hermione, Nyo, Remus, and Lavender all smiled brightly while Harry and Ron's eyes bulged out of their heads. Harry's glasses slid to the tip of his nose and he only just caught them from falling to the floor.

"W...we…we're gonna _what_?" Sirius asked dumbly.

"Oh, Sirius! Do you hate me now?" Tali wailed.

"B…baby? Me? I'm having a baby? Sirius Black, father? A kid? Me? Baby?" Sirius continued to ramble on, making no sense at all and Tali cried even louder.

"You're going to leave me for some skimpy bleached blonde!" Tali howled.

"Baby?" Sirius asked incredibly again, completely oblivious to everything else.

All of a sudden, it was as if something clicked inside his head. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open, and, ever so slowly, he turned his head towards his wife.

"I'M GONNA BE A DADDY!" he shouted so loudly that everyone had to cover their ears.

"And you hate me!" Tali cried.

Sirius dove in and hugged Tali who continued to cry like there was no tomorrow. Both continued to shout their emotions to the best of their ability, neither seeming to comprehend what the other was saying.

"Er…are they going to be alright?" Harry asked Madame Pomfrey without removing his eyes from the two.

The matron nodded, "Oh yes. Sirius is showing similar behavior to most who find out that they're going to be fathers. And as for Mrs. Black, I'll give her some medication to keep her emotions in line."

"At least we know that the Saga Resort has yet to turn up a disappointed couple," Remus joked as Tali let out a particularly loud whine.

"Well if James' son turned out to be Harry, then I dread to think what Sirius' is going to be like," Pomfrey shook her head.

Harry's mouth dropped open in indignation, though he fought to keep down a smile, "I think I am insulted. What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't get me wrong, Mr. Potter, but you have gotten yourself into quite a bit of trouble in your time," Pomfrey said over the rim of her glasses.

"Now you're beginning to make me sound like an old geezer," Harry shook his head.

"Look at the bright side, Harry," Ron laughed, "With us around, this kid's bound to be taught the basics by the best of the best."

"Yeah," Hermione nodded, "He's bound to be top in his class...if it's even a boy that is."

"Of course it's going to be a boy, Hermione!" Sirius exclaimed, whipping around to face them, "What fun's a girl?"

Harry, Ron, and Remus all looked at each other and slowly started edging towards the exit as the girls in the room glared at Sirius.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean, Sirius?" Lavender asked, slowly walking forward.

"He's gonna leave me if it doesn't have a winky!" Tali cried.

Ron turned around, shrouded in a dark cloak. His face was completely covered in the shadows and he almost melded away in the dark light.

"Are you sure you're ready?" he asked in a somewhat creepy voice.

Nyo looked around the dark surroundings with a raised eyebrow, "Er...Ron, why is it so dark in here?"

"Ah, scared of the dark, are you?" he asked with a smirk.

"No, I'm just asking," Nyo clarified.

Ron sweatdropped and hunched his shoulders, laughing nervously, "Right…well...as soon as everyone else gets here we can get started."

"We already are here, Ron," someone said into his ear from behind.

Ron jumped with a shout and the hood fell off his head as he came crashing down to the floor, "Bloody hell, Lavender. Don't sneak up on me like! You're going to give me a bloody heart attack!"

"We didn't sneak up on you. We were waiting here for you two when came in and turned out the lights," Harry said, giving him his hand and helping him to his feet, "What's up with that anyway?"

Ron shrugged, "I don't know."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Good answer, Fang."

"Oh!" Ron jumped to his feet, suddenly remembering why they were there, "Right! You ready, Nyo?"

Nyo looked from face to face and nodded, "I suppose…what do I have to do?"

"Well," Harry cleared his throat and pulled out the book they had salvaged from Moaning Myrtle's bathroom the previous Christmas, "According to this, you have to find out what your Animagus form is first."

"Animagus? Are you kidding? That takes years to master!" Nyo exclaimed.

"Normally you'd be correct, but you forget that you're dealing with the Marauders here," Lavender smiled, "There's a short cut to everything with us."

"And what would that be here?" Nyo asked skeptically.

"Drink this," Hermione said, pushing a goblet into her hands.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Just drink it," Hermione urged.

Nyo sighed and downed the liquid in one gulp, "Okay, now what?"

"Close your eyes and you should be able to see your animal," Harry said and she closed her eyes, "Do you see it?"

She said nothing for a second before saying in a shaky voice, "Y—yeah."

"Okay, concentrate on it."

All of a sudden, Nyo's body lifted off the floor and started shrinking towards her stomach. The four Marauders stared incredibly at her as she shrunk smaller and smaller until it seemed almost inevitable that she would shrink into oblivion. What appeared to be crystal blue water surrounded the remains of Nyo and, though it was only a few seconds, it seemed like an eternity until they saw her.

"A fish?" Ron asked, "You can be a fish?"

Indeed, where Nyo had just been standing, floated a blue fish of no previous genre. Its scales were shiny and a few of them were even different colors. The blue water that had appeared during her transformation circle around her as she "swam" through the air.

"I didn't know that," Hermione said speechlessly.

"How can she breathe without water?" Lavender asked.

"Wow," was all Harry could muster to say.

The fish turned away from the staring eyes and, soon enough, the young black-haired girl was back, "Are you guys alright?"

"Yeah, we're fine, why?" Hermione asked.

"You're all staring at me," she pointed out.

"Oh, sorry," they all muttered, breaking their eye contact.

"That's amazing, though! I didn't know you could become a fish!" Lavender exclaimed, taking Nyo's hand and jumping up and down.

Nyo shrugged, "Always a first time for everything I suppose."

"Well congratulations! Welcome to the Marauders!" Ron smiled, clapping his hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks," Nyo said, rubbing her shoulder.

"Well, what now?" she asked after a moment of silence.

"You need a name, don't you?" Ron asked.

"I already have one," Nyo said.

"No, Fang means a code name," Harry explained.

"Code name?" Nyo asked blankly.

"Here," Harry said, smiling as he casually tossed his arm around her shoulder, not noticing the deep blush the rushed to her face, "Let me introduce you to the Marauders."

"Sirius is Padfoot and Remus is Moony. They're the last part of the original generation with my dad, Prongs. Ron is a red wolf so his name is Fang. 'Mione's a raven, so she's called Blackbeak. And Lavender's a clouded leopard, so she's Specs," Harry said, pointing to each in turn as they transformed to and from their Animagus form.

"What about you?" Nyo asked.

Harry grinning broadly, "I take after my dad. My name's Prongs Jr."

"So what are you?" she asked.

In response, Harry transformed into a pure white stag that seemed to be quite a bit taller and intimidating than last year. He transformed back to the applause of his friends.

"Bloody hell, Harry. I think that whole ordeal last year must have done something to you," Ron gaped.

"Yeah, you're at least two feet taller as a stag!" Lavender said with her hands over her mouth.

Harry shrugged, "No different than I was earlier this summer, am I, 'Mione?"

A faint blush crept unto her cheeks as she looked away, "No, you're the same alright."

A toothy grin spread out across Ron's face, "Oh, I get it. For shame, for shame. Were PJ and Blackbeak up to something in our absence?"

"I really don't think that's any of your business, Fang," Harry laughed.

Ron laughed and playfully punched Harry's shoulder, "Good show, mate."

"So do you know what you want your name to be?" Hermione asked Nyo, quickly changing the subject.

"Oh, Merlin, I don't know." Nyo led off into thought.

"Well, you're a fish. Tie it into that somehow," Lavender said, sitting on a desk.

Nyo sighed, "A fish…what has to do with a fish."

"Scales," Harry said at the exact same time as Ron said, "Gills," at the exact same time as Lavender said, "Fins," at the exact same time as Hermione said, "Water."

Nyo looked at the four, overwhelmed at the sudden suggestions, "Whoa, one at a time."

"What about Hina?" Harry asked, "That's Hawaiian for goddess of fish."

"And how, prey tell, would you know that, Mr. Potter?" Lavender asked with a raised eyebrow.

Harry shrugged and looked down, "The Dursleys went to Hawaii once over summer break and brought back a video tape."

Hermione, Ron, and Lavender cast nervous glances at each other, but before they could change the subject…

"Didn't you go with them?"

The three winced at Nyo's question and looked anxiously at Harry for his reaction, which was quite unexpected. He smiled sadly and shook his head, "No. Not like I expected them to, anyway."

"Why not? You lived with them, didn't you?" Nyo asked.

Hermione and Lavender had to keep both hands on Ron to keep him from tackling Nyo to prevent her from asking more questions.

Harry breathed a laugh, "Your parents really did keep you isolated over in Ireland, didn't they?"

Nyo nodded after a moment, "Yes, why?"

Harry shook his head, "Nothing, just forget about it. I shouldn't have brought it up."

Nyo looked at him for a moment before deciding to drop it, "...Hina. I like it."

"Yeah, me too!" the other three exclaimed, excited to change the subject.

Harry rolled his eyes and laughed, "You three really do try too hard sometimes… .Bloody hell, Ron. What happened to you?""

Ron brought his hand up to the side of his face where a nasty bruise had begun to form and grinned dumbly, but before he could answer, Lavender shoved him backwards.

"He fell down the stairs today on the way back Divination," she said, sending him a murderous look, "I told him not to fall asleep, but did he listen to me? No. He goes right ahead and gets himself hypnotized into sleep. Then, at the end of class, he's all drowsy and trips on the bottom of his robes."

"Hypnotized?" Harry and Hermione chorused.

Lavender and Nyo looked at each other and broke out into bad giggles as Ron blushed furiously, "It wasn't that funny."

"Yes it was!" Lavender laughed.

"What'd he do?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"I'll show you," Nyo said, bringing her hand up to her mouth when Ron grabbed her hand away.

"Nyo, please! Not again!" he begged.

"Why not, you're the one who was too stubborn to go tell Trelawney that you were dozing off in her class and accidentally got hypnotized. She would have fixed you," Nyo smiled wickedly.

"Not before that bat made me do something embarrassing in front of everybody!" Ron protested.

"What? Like this?" Lavender asked, whistling.

It was obvious that Ron was fighting against it with every shred of strength that he had, but he, apparently, wasn't strong enough. He dropped to his hands and knees before crawling around, oinking like a pig. Harry and Hermione snorted, jumping out of the way of Ron who was snorting around as if looking for something to eat.

"How long has he been like this?" Hermione asked, completely amused with the situation.

"Only since this afternoon," Nyo smiled, pushing Ron, who was sniffing rather far up her leg, away from her, "I told him I'll give him up until the Quidditch game to get help from somebody before I get Trelawney to fix him."

"Is there anyway to get him back to normal?" Harry questioned.

"Oh yeah, but we only know the temporary cure," Lavender nodded.

"And.?" Harry asked.

"You have to." Lavender broke off into a small fit of giggles before composing herself, "You have to rub his belly."

"We have to what?" Harry and Hermione asked in laughter.

"Yes, and if you can catch him, I'll do it for you," Lavender nodded.

"Catch him?" Hermione asked.

"He's a pig, Hermione. He acts like one," Nyo said pointedly, "He's not going to just let you rub his stomach."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other, "Are you serious? We really have to hogtie him?"

"Well, not hogtie him. .Just catch him and hold him still is all," Lavender said.

Hermione looked at Harry again and he shrugged, "Let's have at it then."

With that, he dove at Ron only to find that, along with the pig instincts, Ron had apparently gained the agility of the pig as well. Ron squealed in a manner that he most certainly would not have been able to pull off in his right state of mind, and skidded out of the way.

Harry landed roughly on his stomach. He sat up quickly as the three girls laughed at him, "Don't just stand there. Help me catch him."

They gave one last laugh before nodding and chasing after Ron. The noise and commotion that followed was, by far, some of the loudest that had ever graced Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Papers and quills flew in every which way in the air as desks and chairs fell to the floor, along with those who knocked into them, with loud crashes.

"Quick! Someone close the door!" Harry shouted as he struggled to untangle himself from the mass of chairs that were on him.

A particularly loud squeal, and Harry turned just in time to see the three girls accidentally run into each other, bumping foreheads rather roughly, before falling to the floor. In the meantime, pig-Ron skidded out from the center of the three and out the open door, racing right past a very confused Filch.

"What has been going on here?" he demanded to know.

"Hurry! We have to catch him quick!" Lavender exclaimed, ignoring the caretaker's question.

The four quickly stumbled out of the completely destroyed classroom and after the noisy squeals that echoed off the hall walls.

At the time, most students and faculty members were at dinner, but those who were still out and about, stared, very amused and just a bit confused, at the "pig" and its pursuers who were desperately trying to recruit people to help them catch Ron. No one seemed to be in much of a helpful mood, though, and after ten minutes of running, it was still just the three.

"Look! There he goes!" Hermione pointed just in time for Harry and Nyo to see Ron's shoes disappear behind a corner.

They picked up their pace just in time to hear him collide with something that made an angry "oomph." The three looked at each other and slowed to a walk as shouts reached their ears, "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, KID?"

"IS THIS SOME KIND OF FREAK GAME THAT DAMN HEADMASTER IS TEACHING YOU?"

Harry looked to the others in indignation and they seemed to be feeling the same way.

"I don't know who you are, but you have no right talking about Harry like that!" Hermione said angrily, stalking around the corner.

"And just who do you think you are?" a snooty looking woman asked.

"Mum? Dad? What are you doing here?" Nyo asked, instinctively shrinking back slightly as she turned the corner with Harry and Lavender.

"Oh good, you caught him!" Lavender exclaimed, walking over to Ron who was struggling to escape from Quincy's arms.

"Look at the trouble you've caused, Ron," she said, looking at him sternly before rubbing his stomach.

Instantly, Ron's arms and legs shot out from under him and he looked around, before turning deep crimson, "Thanks for that."

He quickly jumped out of Quincy's arms and looked around, "What are we doing here? What happened to the classroom?"

"You trashed it before running loose all over the castle. For a pig, you sure were jumpy," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"Er…sorry 'bout that...it explains why my knees feel like shit, though," Ron said, rubbing his knee caps.

"What are you dong here?" Nyo asked her parents again, and everyone suddenly seemed to remember that they were there.

"You know why we're here, Nyoka. Come, we're leaving," Quincy said, grabbing her arm and roughly pulling her down the hall.

"Hey! Wait a minute! Who the hell are you, and what do you think you're doing?" Ron asked angrily.

"We are Nyoka's parents, and we're taking her back home if that's alright with you," Nyo's mother, Belle, sneered.

Ron glared at her and stepped forward, but Harry put a hand up before turning to the adults, "As a matter of fact, it's not alright. Nyo's my student, and, more importantly, my friend. She's not going anywhere if she doesn't want to."

"How dare you! I am her mother, and if I say she's coming with me, you have no right to stop it!" Belle shouted, enraged.

Harry looked at her, calculating, before nodding, "Let's go to my office and talk about it there, then."

"I'm not going anywhere the 'Boy-Who-Lived' calls home," Quincy growled.

"You're here, aren't you?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow, "Hogwarts is my home."

The two glowered at him, but Harry pretended not to notice, "Let's get going then, we're not far."

Begrudgingly, Belle, her grip on Nyo's arm still death tight, and Quincy nodded, and Harry turned to Hermione, Ron, and Lavender, "Go take Ron to Madame Pomfrey. She should be able to get rid of that whole hypnosis thing."

"But—" they started.

"No," Harry said firmly, leaning into them, "Trust me, I've met these two before. They're a nasty sort, I'll handle this."

"But—" they started again.

Harry shook his head, and they sighed irritably before nodding and heading towards the infirmary. Once they were gone, Harry mocked a bow and he and the Rills made their way to Harry's office in complete silence. It wasn't until they were all seated comfortably in the plush red and gold chairs in the Headmaster's office that anyone spoke.

"She's coming with us, and we're taking her back to Ireland to finish her schooling in a _competent_ school," Quincy said with utmost distaste.

"I assure you that Hogwarts is just as 'competent' as any other school you might find on this planet," Harry said, leaning back in his chair.

"Any school run by a pompous airhead who thinks he's all high and mighty just because he defeated Voldemort is no school I will have my daughter attend!" Quincy shouted.

"Father!" Nyo exclaimed in horror.

"Shut your mouth, Nyoka! Don't speak unless you're spoken to!" Belle snapped.

Nyo looked down and leaned back in her chair as her father continued, "I don't know what England was thinking, putting _you_ in charge. You're not even a full fledged wizard yet! Certainly not qualified enough to run a school!"

Harry raised his eyebrow, "Are you through?"

Quincy and Belle exchanged quick glances at each other, as if to assure each other of Harry's response. Harry, on the other hand, laughed on the inside. If they expected to get some sort of big response out of him, it was going to take a lot more than a few meaningless insults. He had been raised on those and had learned long ago how to shut them out.

"What are you playing at?" Belle asked quietly.

"I'm not _playing_ at anything, Mrs. Rill. I simply wished to know if your husband was through with his incessant ranting and raving," Harry said, suppressing a small smile at the looks on their faces.

"I should have known to expect such arrogance out of you, Potter. After all, you are James' son," Quincy sneered.

Harry was taken off guard and felt himself slip a little, "You knew my parents, then?"

"Knew?" Belle shrieked, "Knew? Why with all the time—"

"Belle, hold your tongue!" Quincy said, casting her a meaningful look that only the two seemed to understand.

Both settled back into their chairs and looked back at Harry, "I don't know why we are even bothering. Nyoka is my child, and she will do as I say."

"If you don't mind me saying," Harry said, knowing perfectly well that they did mind, "Nyo is hardly a child. In a few months she'll be a fully registered witch, completely capable of making her own decisions."

"Unlike you," Belle said, not bothering to keep her voice low.

Harry looked at her over the rim of his glasses, and chose to ignore the comment, "Nyo, do you want to leave?"

Nyo looked mortified at the question, and tried her best to not look at her parents who were glaring daggers at her, "...No."

It was said so quietly, that it was barely understandable, but they all knew what she had said. Harry beamed at her, "There you go then. I'd say she's old enough to make her own decisions and she said she doesn't want to leave."

"Yes, unfortunately, your opinion isn't one that matters," Quincy scowled, grabbing Nyo right under the armpit and pulling her roughly to her feet and towards the exit, "Come, Nyoka, we're leaving."

"Ow! Father, you're hurting me!" Nyo pouted as she was dragged across the ground.

"Shut your mouth, you filthy little bitch!" Quincy said with hatred so pure, it made her shiver.

They were right at the door when, in a pop, Harry was blocking the exit. He was glaring at them so menacingly that it actually would have made Voldemort cower, but Quincy and Belle stood their ground, "Out of the way!"

"I think you should let her go, and we should finish this discuss—" Harry cut off in mid-sentence, as he easily ducked to the side to avoid a fist that Quincy had thrown at him with his spare hand.

If Harry had been angry before, the attempt at causing him physical harm sent him over the edge. With the twinkle in his eye gone without a trace, his deep emerald pools shone in rage through and through. Without even raising a hand, simply by his eyes widening powerfully, Quincy and Belle were sent sailing across the room and into the stone wall.

They stood up quickly and glowered at Harry who was helping Nyo to her feet, "This isn't over, Potter!"

"If I were you, I'd get out while you still can," Harry said in a low voice.

They sneered at him before turning to Nyo, "Nyoka! We WILL win! If I were you I'd think twice before joining sides with scum like the Potter boy and his sorry excuse for friends!"

Harry was more than prepared to send them flying back into the wall again when, quite to his surprise, they vanished. He glared venomously at the spot they had been standing a moment longer before turning to Nyo who was shivering slightly and crying softly to herself.

Forcing himself to cool down, he knelt next to the chair she was sitting in and put a hand on her shoulder, "Are you okay?"

Catching him off guard, she threw herself in his arms and sobbed on his shoulder. Harry, knowing all too well the types of feelings she was most likely going through, gently rubbed her back and rocked her back and forth. His entire shoulder was soaking wet, by the time she managed to compose herself, and pulled back.

"I'm sorry," she whispered almost inaudibly.

"For what?" Harry asked, perplexed.

Nyo looked away, "My parents."

Harry shook his head, "Don't worry about it. No one was hurt…well...no good guys anyway."

Nyo laughed and shook her head, wiping her eyes with her robe sleeve, "I don't know what I'm going to do when I go back this summer."

"You don't have to, remember, you're going to be a full fledged witch. You don't ever have to go back there again," Harry said with a smile.

"But they'll come back to get me," Nyo shook her head.

"And I'll stop them again," Harry grinned.

In spite of herself, Nyo laughed, "No, you don't know them. They'll never stop, not until they have me back in Ireland."

"Hey," Harry said seriously, "You're not going anywhere you don't want to. You're a Marauder now, and Marauders stick together till the end. Ron, 'Mione, Lavender, Sirius, Remus, and I will keep the sharks at bay. Tali, too. She's not a Marauder, but she has this thing about her students missing her classes."

Nyo laughed again and hugged him, "Thanks, Harry."

"No problem," Harry smiled, standing up, "That's what friends are for, right?"

She smiled, somewhat sadly at first but then brightly, "Yeah, friends. Come on; let's go see if Ron'll still turn into a pig."

Harry laughed, "Yeah, just make sure the door is closed this time."

"Would you two relax already?" Remus, dressed in a light green dress robe, begged, collapsing in a chair in Great Hall.

The day of the Back-To-School-Ball had finally arrived, and Harry, Ron, and Sirius were all waiting for their dates to arrive. The Great Hall was decorated magnificently. Deep shades of almost every color imaginable coated the walls and tables. The ceiling sky was perfectly clear, and the stars shining down were the only light in the room, and the only light needed at that. Any and all food that was good to eat could be found on the concession table that stretched along the whole of one wall.

"But, Moony! This is a BIG night! Things like this don't happen everyday!" Sirius, dressed in dark red dress robes, exclaimed.

He had been nothing short of a nervous wreck ever since he found out he was going to be a father. Pomfrey had been giving him calming potions every morning, but that night he had another reason to be nervous.

"You should talk!" Harry, who was also wearing a dark red dress robe, said as he allowed his head to hit the table they were seated at, "I've never been in such a lose-lose situation before!"

"What 'lose-lose situation?'" Ron, wearing deep blue, asked with a laugh, "This is a win-win, mate. If she says yes, you're engaged, and if she says no, at least she knows you care enough about her to want to be with her for the rest of her life. And face it, Harry, she's going to say yes. It's not every guy who arranges a school dance just so he can propo—"

Harry jumped up and clamped his hand over Ron's mouth, "Are you crazy? Keep it down, Ron! I don't want the whole world knowing."

"Sorry to break it to you, kid, but everyone here already knows you and Hermione are going to get hitched one of these days," Remus laughed.

Sirius looked at Harry, "Oh! It seems like only yesterday I was changing your diapers!"

Ron burst out laughing as Harry turned bright red and Remus rolled his eyes and muttering something about 'not recalling ever seeing Padfoot holding a dirty diaper.'

"Hey guys! Sorry we're late!"

The men turned to see Lavender, Nyo, and Neville, the date Lavender had set Nyo up with, hurry over to him. When they reached the table, Lavender smiled broadly and hugged Ron, "Hey, Ron!"

"You guys look nice," Nyo commented.

"You three do too," Harry smiled back.

Neville was wearing a black dress robe while his date, Nyo, was wearing a forest green, off the shoulder dress that stopped just before it touched the floor. She had on a golden necklace, and her hair was free to run down her back.

Lavender, on the other hand, graced her body with deep purple dress that clung to her figure nicely. Hers did have straps, though they were only pencil thin at that, and they crisscrossed in the back. Her hair was up in a ponytail with fringes left down to frame her face.

"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked, causing Sirius, Remus, and Ron to snicker.

"She's running a bit late. She had a stain on her dress that she had to get out," Lavender informed them.

"Oh," Harry sighed, hitting his head to the table again.

"Sirius! Sirius Black! You'll never believe it!" Tali exclaimed, running up to the group in a long teal dress.

"Careful, Tals. You're pregnant now, you can't go running around like that," Sirius said, smiling warmly at her as she came to a stop in front of him.

"Oh, quiet!" she said, playfully slapping his shoulder, "I have a while to go before I have to spend all my time sitting down."

"Not if Padfoot has anything to do about it," Remus said under his breath.

"Right, right," Sirius said, not having heard Remus, "What won't I believe, Tali?"

She grinned broadly, "I just came from the infirmary. Madame Pomfrey says we—oh, Sirius! We're going to have twins!"

The look on Sirius' face was priceless. It was almost as memorable as when he first found out he was going to be a father. Harry lifted his head off the table and laughed quietly to himself as Sirius fell into an empty chair.

"Twins?" he said incredibly, "_Twins_?"

"Yes! Isn't it wonderful?" Tali asked, spreading her arms wide.

Sirius shook his head in disbelief and breathed a laugh, "Twins."

He turned to Tali and broke out into a huge smile before sweeping her off her feet and spinning her around in a circle, "Tals, we're having twins!"

"I know! Oh, Sirius!" Tali exclaimed as she was set back on her feet and pulled him into a hug, "I love you!"

"I love you, too, Tali," Sirius kissed the top of her head.

"Holy shit," Ron said breathlessly, staring at the entrance.

Everyone in their little group turned and froze. Harry was certain his heart had stopped as his jaw quickly raced to greet the floor. He blinked several times to make sure that he wasn't dreaming. Sure enough, he wasn't. Hermione had arrived.

He tried to tell his legs to start walking towards the beauty in the doorway, but they didn't seem to get the message. He gulped dryly and continued to stare at the girl who was making him feel as if all around him had vanished.

She was dressed in a light peachy-pink no sleeve dress that clung to her figure all the way to her hips where it flared out all the way to the floor where it just barely brushed the stone surface. Her hair was up on top of her head, held there by a silver tiara with peachy-pink gems set in it. Several curly sprigs of hair were let out purposefully to line her face.

Earrings, of the same peachy-pink gems decorating her crown, sparkled from behind the sprigs of hair. And, even from the distance that separated them, Harry instantly recognized the necklace that she had chosen to decorate her neck with the locket he had given her last Christmas.

As the distance between them closed, he could see her face more clearly. Once again, the light job on makeup made her already beautiful features ten times lovelier. The lightest touch of mascara and white eye glitter made her chocolate brown eyes jump out even more than usual. And the lip gloss that covered her naturally pink lips made Harry want nothing more than to pull her into his arms and kiss her. Hell, he was ready to drop down on one knee and ask her to marry him on the spot.

"Hello, Harry," Hermione smiled as she came to a stop in front of him.

Harry blinked again; he hadn't even noticed her coming up to him. He gulped once again and blushed for some reason he couldn't ascertain. She giggled momentarily before he bent down and kissed her hand, causing her to blush as well.

"You look ravishing, 'Mione," he smiled softly, standing up, though he kept her hand in his.

"I must say," Hermione said, fighting the giant grin on her face, "You do look rather debonair tonight as well."

Behind them, Lavender was practically pulling Ron's arm off in anticipation, not that he noticed. He, too, was enthralled in the couple. Everyone near them seemed to be sensing the tension in the air. Sirius' hands were clamped over his face so tight, that his face was beginning to loose color, while Nyo lowered her head and partially hid herself behind Neville.

"Hermione." Harry said, his voice trembling in nerves.

"Harry," Hermione said at the same time.

The two blushed and looked away. Hermione cast a look to the dance floor, "Why isn't anyone dancing?"

Harry shook his head and his nerves were temporarily reprieved as everyone around them let out a frustrated groan.

"No one likes to be the first person on the dance floor, 'Mione. You should know that," Harry said pointedly.

Hermione pursed her lips and nodded her head, "Alright then. Come on, Harry. Let's have a go at it."

The color in Harry's face drained and he croaked, "What?"

Ron snickered at Harry's slightly high-pitched question. He knew, perhaps better than anyone, how much Harry detested dancing. Throw in being the first at the party to do so, and it was worse than hell for him.

Harry cast him a short glare before turning back to Hermione, "Can't someone else go first?"

"If everyone thinks that way then no one will ever start," Hermione rolled her eyes as music started to play.

_"Everybody dance now...  
Everybody dance now...  
Give me the music  
Give me the music  
Everybody dance now...  
Everybody dance now..."_

"Oh! Harry, this is the perfect song! Come on!" Hermione exclaimed as she dragged the very reluctant Harry onto the dance floor.

Harry blushed a thousand shades of red as all eyes in the Great Hall turned onto him and Hermione.

"Hermione.I can't dance," he said slowly through clenched teeth.

"Sure you can, Harry!" Hermione said confidently as she started to dance, "Just do what I do."

_"Yeah ... Yeah ... Yeah  
Everybody dance now  
Yeah ... Yeah ... Yeah  
Everybody"_

Harry weakly tried to copy her movements in very subtle motions. He was beginning to have second thoughts about even having the party, though he knew all too well that it was too late to call it off now.

From the crowd, Harry could clearly hear the snickers bouncing off the walls in the room. And though, true, that the music nearly made it impossible to hear it, Harry was all the more humiliated for it. He groaned inwardly, but forced himself to remember that it was for Hermione. Who, by the way, wasn't half bad at dancing.

"Harry, come on! I know you can dance better than that," she exclaimed, taking his hands and dancing with him.

_"Here is the dome, back with the bass  
The jam is live in effect and I don't waste time  
On the mike with a dope rhyme  
Jump to the rhythm jump, jump to the rhythm jump"_

Hermione laughed merrily as she twirled around on the dance floor with complete and total elegance. If there was one thing Harry was sure of, it was that Hermione was one hell of a dancer. Of course, he had known that ever since fourth year when she and Krum had danced together at the Yule Ball.

He looked out across the faces in the crowd, and was relieved to note that most of his friends from Gryffindor weren't laughing. That alone gave him a bit more confidence, though he knew he must have been giving everyone else a good reason to do so.

_"And I'm here to combine  
Beats and lyrics to make your shake your pants  
Take a chance, come on and dance  
Guys, grab a girl, don't wait, make her twirl"_

Back in the crowd, Harry and Hermione's friends continued to watch the couple painfully.

Ron leaned over to Nyo, "You know earlier when I said Harry can do anything? Nyo nodded Er. . .Harry tripped and nearly fell on his face Better make that anything except dance."

"I think this is actually worse than the Yule Ball," Lavender said, wincing as Harry stumbled again.

"He can do it," Sirius said with confidence, "James and Lily were both great dancers.some of it must be in there."

"...Somewhere," he added after a moment.

_"It's your world and I'm just a squirrel  
Trying to get a nut to move your butt  
To the dance floor, so yo butt's up  
Hands in the air  
Come on say yeah"_

It amazed Harry to no extent how Hermione could dance so well in a dress that looked like it would make her trip even more than him. He quickly sweatdropped when he realized that, compared to him, practically anybody would look good when it came to dancing.

'Out of all the things I can do, why can't dancing be one of them?' he asked himself as Hermione returned over to him.

"Harry?" she asked with a frown, "Are you not having fun? We can go if you want."

It took every ounce of self-control he had not to take her offer and run away from all the prying eyes of his students and staff, "No, no, I'm fine, Hermione. Just a bit rusty."

Hermione smiled broadly, "Is that all? Come on, I'll help you."

_"Everybody over here everybody over there  
The crowd is live and I pursue this groove  
Party people in the house  
Move ... (Let your mind)  
Groove ... (Put me online)"_

"No, no. It's okay. You go on. I'll get it eventually," Harry said, waving her off with his hand.

"Oh no you don't, Harry Potter," Hermione said, smiling broadly, "Come on, I'm helping you whether you want me to or not."

"But-" Harry started before he found himself yanked forward.

"Now, just do like I do," Hermione instructed before doing a simple movement with her feet.

Harry, humiliated beyond belief at this point, tried to mimic her, only to trip forward into her, sending them both to the floor.

_"Come on let's sweat, baby  
Let the music take control  
Let the rhythm move you"_

Even the Gryffindors who had, up to that point, refrained from laughter, chuckled at the two. Harry started panicking again and stumbled to help Hermione to her feet.

Quite surprisingly, she had managed to make the fall without so much as roughing a single strand of hair out of place. It was at this, Harry was most positive, that she had placed a spell on it to keep it in place all night. He smiled slightly at her cleverness. She always had known how to plan ahead.

"You okay, Hermione? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I—" Harry started but Hermione only giggled and shook her head.

"It's okay, Harry. No harm done. Let's try again," she said, performing another simple step.

Giving a huge sigh, Harry, once again, attempted to mimic her. And, once again, the two were knocked to the ground.

_"Sweat, sweat  
Let the music take control  
Let the rhythm move you"_

"He's dying out there," Lavender groaned as Harry helped Hermione up again.

"Well what exactly do you propose we do?" Ron asked in a perturbed tone.

Lavender looked around the crowd, most of whom were laughing, "Well we can't very well let him go on making an idiot out of himself, can we?"

They all looked around at each other for ideas, and if anyone had any, they certainly didn't make it known. Until…

"I think we all know what we have to do," Tali said with forthcoming dread.

Everyone looked at each other and reluctantly nodded before simultaneously running out to the center of the dance floor.

_"Everybody dance now …"_

"Hey, guys! Sorry we're late!" Neville smiled nervously as he looked around.

Harry and Hermione turned and smile, in Harry's case most thankfully, at the sight of their friends.

"Well it's about time, isn't it?" Hermione smiled.

"Why don't you say we give them something to laugh about?" Sirius asked with a smirk.

Everyone grinned, but before any could so much as move.

"Wait for us!"

Turning, they saw Ginny, Colin, Seamus, Parvati, Dean, and Padma running over to them.

"Right, let's get started then!" Hermione smiled.

_"Da da da da da da da da  
Da da da da, da da da  
Da da da da, da da da  
La da da da, la da da da  
Dum da dum da dum  
Everbody dance now"_

It was made quite clear from early on that Hermione was really the only person with any talent on the dance floor. Sirius, Remus, and Tali weren't that bad, but they did, rather often, bump into each other.

No matter that, though, Harry was quite relieved to have a larger group of people on the dance floor. In his opinion, it made him less of a spectacle when there were thirteen other people for the rest of the school to stare at. He even felt comfortable enough to give more effort.

...He still wasn't that good, but he wasn't any worse than anyone else.

_"Pause, take a breath and go for yours  
On my command now hit the dance floor  
Gonna make you sweat till ya bleed  
Is that dope enough, indeed"_

"Ready and...spin!" Hermione called out the moves.

They tried to spin around as Hermione had done, but only ended up ramming into each other and landing in a heap on the ground.

Hermione groaned and shook her head. She hurried over to them and helped them all to their feet, "You're all trying to hard. Just relax."

"Hermione," Nyo moaned at the bottom of the pile, "There are, like, hundreds of people out there."

"So? This may not be as true for you as everyone else, but they've all seen us do stupider stuff before. What's so bad about dancing? Who cares if they laugh? Just have a good time!" Hermione said brightly.

"Easy for you to say," Colin groaned as he rubbed his back, "You actually have talent."

_"I paid the price, I control the dice  
I'm more precise, to the point I'm nice  
The music takes control, your heart your soul  
Unfold, your body is free and a whole"_

"'Talent' has nothing to do with it," Hermione said, crossing her arms, "I'm just concentrating on having a good time, and so should you all."

Harry looked at his friends and sighed heavily, "Okay, Hermione, I'm in. Let's have some fun."

"Great!" Hermione smiled broadly.

Ron stepped forward, "Yeah! Let's have some fun!"

"Yeah!" was the general consensus from the rest of the group.

_"Dance till you can't, dance  
Till you can't dance no more  
Get on the floor and get raw  
Then come back and upside down  
Easy now, let me see ya  
Move ... (Let your mind)  
Move ... (Put me online)  
Cause music is my life ..."_

"Now, everyone, just listen to the music and let your body do the rest," Hermione instructed.

They all nodded and listened to the music, and, slowly, they all started tapping their feet and nodding their heads a bit. Then, simultaneously, and without any command, they all jumped in line and started dancing, leaving the rest of the crowd in complete shock at the turn in talent.

_"Everybody dance now ...  
Everybody dance now...  
Everybody dance now...  
Everybody..."_

The music changed slightly, and they all broke apart from the line.

It was as if they had rehearsed their steps hundreds of times before. Everyone was in sync with what they were doing. Harry and Hermione danced incredibly around each other with such grace and flawlessness it left all dumbfounded as the rest of the couples shimmied forward, back to chest, leaning farther and farther back with each step/jump forward.

_"Come on let's sweat, baby  
Let the music take control  
Let the rhythm move you"_

The rest of the school stared at them in complete and utter silence. All the laughter had long since left the room as every jaw hit the floor, not that any of those dancing noticed. It was now them who were laughing, and having a great time in the process at that.

_"Sweat, sweat  
Let the music take control  
Let the rhythm move you"_

As the music died down, the entire Hall burst out into a thunderstorm of cheers and applause. Those on the dance floor looked around with a dignified air about them as they smiled happily.

"Merlin, that was AWESOME!" Seamus exclaimed.

"Forget that, we were bloody brilliant!" Ron laughed.

"I knew there was talent in there somewhere!" Sirius said, playfully punching Harry's shoulder.

"Thanks to Hermione, there is," Harry smiled at her, causing her to blush.

"I just helped your dancing self out," she said shyly.

"You helped all our 'dancing selves' out," Remus said pointedly, "But all that dancing has made me thirsty, I think I'll go get a drink."

Everyone else smiled wickedly and made similar excuses until Harry and Hermione were alone again. Harry opened his mouth to speak when music started up again, this time a slower beat.

He smiled softly and bowed, "Would you like to dance?"

Hermione smiled back and nodded. Harry pulled her close and put one hand on her hip before taking her other in his. Hermione put her spare hand on his shoulder as they slowly started to dance.

_"They read you Cinderella  
You hoped it would come true  
That one day your prince charming  
Would come rescue you"_

"You were really something out there," Harry said quietly, "I didn't know you could dance like that."

Hermione smiled wistfully, "My mother always used to tell me that music and dancing were God's gift to the romantic inside all of us."

Harry looked down, remembering all too well the previous year when her mother had been killed as a hostage by Wormtail, ".Do you think it's true?"

"Of course," Hermione said earnestly, "When I was little, I always used to watch those Muggle musicals when they'd fall in love over a song. .I used think that's how lovers met."

"Like Romeo and Juliet?" Harry asked.

Hermione giggled, "Yes. That used to be my favorite. I haven't seen it in ages, though."

"Why not?"

"Why should I bother? You make life so much more interesting than any play could ever be," Hermione said, hoping to get a blush.

Harry didn't disappoint. A light red came over his features, "I hope that's a good thing?"

"Oh yes," Hermione nodded, "…Besides, I've memorized the entire play anyway."

_"You like romantic movies  
And you never will forget  
The way it felt when Romeo kissed Juliet"_

The two continued to spin around slowly, unconsciously drawing closer to each other with each passing minute.

"I can hardly believe that this is my last year in Hogwarts," Hermione said, looking around desolately.

"I know what you mean, I didn't even get seven," Harry joked.

Hermione laughed and looked up into his deep emerald eyes, "Yes, but you're staying here until the end of forever."

"What makes you say that?" Harry asked with a smile.

She raised and eyebrow, "I'd like to see you try to step down. No one would hear of it."

Harry mocked a sigh of frustration, "I know. I'm just _too_ popular sometimes."

Hermione laughed again as Harry spun her out so that they were standing in a line, their hands the only thing keeping them together.

_"And all this time that you've been waiting  
You don't have to wait no more"_

Harry spun her back into his arms, and they momentarily stopped all movement, caught up in each other's eyes.

'Now, now!' Harry's mind screamed at him, but he couldn't seem to get the message anywhere else.

He shook it out of his head and, slowly, they started dancing again. Harry's throat had gone dry in nervousness, and he prayed to heaven that his hands didn't start sweating.

"You might want to be careful, Harry," Hermione said, breaking the comfortable silence, "You were beginning to sound like Lockhart back there for a minute."

Harry laughed, thankful for the temporary distraction, "Glad to hear it. That's what I was aiming for."

_"I can love you like that  
I would make you my world  
Move heaven and earth if you were my girl  
I will give you my heart  
Be all that you need  
Show you you're everything  
That's precious to me"_

"NO!" Lavender exclaimed on the other side of the room, "He was getting ready to ask her! I know it!"

"The night is young, Lavender, calm down. Harry has plenty of time," Remus said, resettling in his chair.

The girls at the table huffed and rested their heads on their hands, causing the men to roll their eyes.

"I still say he should have just hit her with a pie and ask her. That's the easy way to do it," Sirius said.

"Easy way to start a fight that is," Ron rolled his eyes, "I still don't understand how that worked."

"Neither do I." Tali led off with a smile.

"It's just because I'm so loveable," Sirius said, kissing her cheek, "Come on, let's dance."

Tali grinned and took the hand Sirius offered her.

_"If you give me a chance  
I can love you like that  
I'd love you like that  
I could love you like that"_

"—It would have to be horrible, though," Hermione shivered.

"I can't imagine," Harry shook his head, "You said this woman grew how many heads?"

"Three! And then her husband and friends up and left her, calling her a 'Medusa wannabe,'" Hermione shook her head, "Can you imagine? I don't blame her for killing herself."

"And this is all in Hogwarts: A History?" Harry asked incredibly.

Hermione nodded, "I told you and Ron it was interesting."

"Yeah, tell Ron that and he might actually read it," Harry laughed.

Hermione laughed, "That's terrible! He'd probably laugh about the whole thing. Can you imagine what he'd do if it happened to me? I'd never hear the end of it."

"Ron wouldn't do that, Herms. You should know that by now," Harry said firmly.

She giggled, "I know. What about you, Mr. Potter? Would you up and leave me something like that happened to me?"

"'Mione, you could grow a hundred heads, and I'd still love you forever," Harry said, staring into her eyes intensely.

Hermione's smile slowly fell as she lost herself in his eyes, "Really?"

"Really," Harry said, not removing his eyes.

Hermione smiled broadly and hugged him tightly, "I love you, Harry."

_"I never make a promise  
I don't intend to keep  
So when I say forever  
Forever's what I mean"_

Harry's head was positively flipping out at this point, 'NOW! ASK HER NOW!'

"Hermione?" Harry asked nervously.

"Yes, Harry?" Hermione asked, pulling back from the hug.

"Will...will you." Harry kicked himself on the inside, "I love you, too."

Hermione looked at him a bit awkwardly but smiled, "I always hoped so."

The couple slowly started dancing again. The stars above head seemed to be shining brighter as they moved with more and more passion in each step.

"'Mione, you know I'd never keep anything from you, right?" Harry asked.

"Of course, Harry," Hermione nodded.

"Well...there's something I've been wanting to get off my chest for ages now." Harry led off.

"What is it?"

_"Well, I'm no Casanova  
But I swear this much is true  
I'll be holding nothing back  
When it comes to you  
You dream of love that's everlasting  
Well, baby, open up your eyes"_

The music reached a climax and they moved around the floor with such grace, that it left those near them silenced. Without the notice of the two, the floor slowly cleared until it was just Harry and Hermione on the floor.

"It's coming, I know it is!" Tali exclaimed, practically pulling Sirius' arm off, which was quite similar to what Lavender was doing to Ron.

"Come on, Harry! You can do it!" Lavender cheered quietly through clenched teeth.

The couple swooped past where they were standing without even noticing them, and they could all see the anxiety clearly written all over Harry's face. Nyo bowed her head sadly and shrank to the back of the crowd undetected as everyone else continued to watch the couple dreamily.

_"I can love you like that  
I would make you my world  
Move heaven and earth if you were my girl  
I will give you my heart  
Be all that you need  
Show you you're everything  
That's precious to me"_

"Harry? Are you okay?" Hermione asked after a long period of silence.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Harry said, snapping out of his reverie, "Why?"

"You were going to tell me something and you just zoned out," Hermione explained.

"Oh…" Harry led off.

In truth, he had lost the guts, and become lost in thought of possible ways to back out of something he was too nervous to do. Unfortunately for him, he had yet to come up with anything.

"Well, Hermione, the truth is—" he started.

"_If you give me a chance  
I can love you like that  
I love you like that"_

Harry took a deep breath, "Hermione, the truth is that I love you more than I know how to describe. I've loved you for the longest time, and I can still hardly believe that you're mine. I know as well as you do that you could have any guy you wanted. I'd do anything, and I mean anything, for you. I know everything about you. Everything. From your favorite color to your hopes and dreams—"

Hermione listened to him contentedly, her own feelings beginning to overwhelm her. Silent tears started gathering in her eyes as Harry continued talking.

"There's not a thing in this world that I wouldn't do to make you smile, and I'll always be there for you. If ever just want someone there to listen, all you have to do is call my name," the whole time he spoke, he never removed his eyes from hers, "I'll always understand you, 'Mione. And I love you…now and forever."

_"If you want tenderness, I've got tenderness  
And I see through to the heart of you  
If you want a man, who will understand  
You don't have to look very far  
I can love you, I can love you, love you"_

Hermione's cheeks were, by now, soaked with her tears, "I love you, too, Harry."

"Hermione, I've known you for seven years, and for the longest time there's something I've wanted to ask you," Harry said, his heart in his throat.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Hermione Granger, will you-"

_"I can love you like that  
I would make you my world  
Move heaven and earth if you were my girl  
I will give you my heart  
Be all that you need  
Show you you're everything  
That's precious to me  
If you give me a chance  
I can love you like that"_

The song ended and Harry was cut off by the loud sound of applause. The two looked around and were quite surprised to discover that they were by themselves on the dance floor.

Hermione smiled, "I told you all you needed to worry about was having fun."

Harry turned back to her and she took his hand, "Now, what were you going to ask me?"

His heart was suddenly in his throat again as he took a deep breath, "Hermione, will—"

"You two were bloody brilliant!"

"I didn't know you could dance like that!"

"Forget that, I didn't know anyone could dance like that!"

Harry groaned inwardly as all his students of various grades complimented Hermione and him on their dance. He looked around and his eyes fell up on his friends who were, in Sirius and Ron's cases anyway, cursing verbosely at the entire school having "fucking messed up Harry's goddamn proposal!"

Sighing, he shook his head. It was okay. It was only September. He had all year to propose, and he was going to do it if it killed him.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yep, yep. This is one of the LONGEST chapters I've ever written! 18 pages! A lot's happened, too. For any of you who have been having doubts as to whether this is going to be a H/Hr story, I do hope this has erased those fears. And for those of you who have been waiting for things to pick up, it'll be happening soon. When, you ask? Hermione's birthday, of course, which is gonna be a couple of chapters. Hope you all liked this one!

NEXT CHAPTER: Harry knows what he's getting Hermione, and he enlists a couple of people for help. Trelawney makes a real prediction. Plus! A new character's intro! Who? Someone Remus is sure into.


	8. Ch8: Fortunate Misfortunes

Ears91: You think everyone's messing up Harry's proposal now.just wait a bit. Lol, don't worry, it'll be.interesting in the least. I have no idea where the Ron-pig thing came from.glad you liked it though!

Fan: Why'd I cut it off:Grins evilly: You'll see.

Charlie: Yeah, sorry it took so long for this one to come out. Summer's coming to an end, and I'm rushing to finish some summer assignments. :Sweatdrops: I'm afraid I'm a bit of a procrastinator.thanks for your understanding!

Rachel A. Prongs: Yes, but you know Harry. He's kind has a way of making things more difficult than they have to be.

BookCrazy77: Yay! Their kids are gonna be great! .If I decide to write another sequel. Don't know what it would be about yet, but you never know.

Angelic Demon16: Interrupting.no, more like postponing.don't worry, Harry's a smart guy, he'll figure it out.

Lady Reaper of the Shadows: Lol, yes, that's always how I manage to get out of these scrapes, now isn't it? Don't worry, all will end well!

Istalksiriusonweekends: Ah yes, well, dying wouldn't bother me any. Only means you'll never see what happens. Lol, yep, Harry can finally dance! Whoo hoo! Will I use this new found ability later? Maybe yes, maybe no.

Hiei's Angel Sakura: Of course! I wouldn't leave you hanging there without a reason! Lol, you'll have to wait to see what my reasoning is, though.

Athenakitty: Will they change? Perhaps. Ain't saying nothing here! As for the twins.you won't find out for a lo-ng time. Remember, Tali still has to go through all the months of pregnancy. As for Trelawney.you'll see.

Hedowl5: Tell me about it. We've been having nothing but t-storms lately. :sighs: Bloody annoying, actually. And, yeah, I got the e-mail.you get mine?

Nightspear:Grins happily: That's what I was going for! Thanks so much! Glad you liked the original!

Issa2: Thanks! Hope I didn't make you wait too long!

Wanted: A Happy Ending  
Ch8: Fortunate Misfortunes

"So, why isn't Remus coming with us again?" Harry asked, staring dully out the window of the carriage.

"Because," Sirius said pointedly, "He can't know anything about this until she gets to Hogwarts."

"But why?" Harry asked, turning his gaze to his godfather.

"Because they haven't seen each other in ages," Tali said before Sirius could answer.

"And because—" Sirius started, but Tali stomped on his foot.

"Sirius Black! If you start with that again, I'm might have to restrict your roaming privileges for the rest of the week."

Harry's face scrunched in disgust, "Oh! More than I needed to hear right there!"

"You're such a baby, Harry," Sirius laughed.

"We're here!" Tali announced.

The three clambered out of the carriage and blinked in the bright sunlight. Tali, with one hand on her stomach and the other blocking the sun from her eyes, grinned, "She should be around here somewhere."

No sooner had she said this then.

"Tali!"

They spun around to see a tall woman short wavy dirty blonde hair cut to her shoulders and apple green eyes. She was wearing long purple robes with pink accents and seemed to be barely containing her excitement.

The breeze blew gently, playing with her hair, and Harry could instantly see the resemblance between the cousins. Luggage was piled at her sides, indication of her long journey.

"Cara!" Tali shouted, running at top speed towards the woman.

The woman, Cara, started running at Tali as well and the two met in a warm embrace.

"I haven't seen you in forever!" Cara exclaimed in an American accent, pulling apart, and Harry could distinctly hear her American accent.

"Tell me about it. Maine is so far away!" Tali smiled brightly, "Come on, say hi to Sirius and Harry."

"Hey, Padfoot. Long time no see," Cara said shaking his hand.

Sirius laughed and pulled her into a hug, "What, afraid to hug the Azkaban prisoner, are you?"

"Oh yes, terrified," Cara giggled, "Merlin, you must be Harry. You look just like James."

"Thanks," Harry smiled as Cara beamed at him.

"Oh look at me. Going on like this. You probably don't even know who I am, do you?"

"You're Tali's cousin," Harry nodded.

She looked taken back and Sirius laughed, "We told him on the way. Ole Cara Whims coming all the way from Maine to help her dearest cousin through the pregnancy."

"Speaking of which, I still don't know why I'm here. Shouldn't you be the one to help her through this?" Cara asked pointedly.

Sirius shrugged, "Not complaining are you?"

"Oh no, never," Cara laughed.

"Come on, we should be going if we're going to make it back to the castle before Remus notices we're gone," Tali said, "Harry, will you?"

Harry nodded and magicked Cara's luggage onto the top of the carriage as Cara frowned, "Remus didn't come?"

"Didn't come?" Sirius laughed, "Moony doesn't even know you're here."

"Oh," Cara said, crestfallen, climbing into the carriage.

"Don't worry, you two will have plenty of time to...catch up later," Sirius grinned evilly.

Cara rolled her eyes and shoved him, "You always know how to ruin everything don't you, Black?"

Harry looked between the two of them before growing a wide grin on his face, "You're Remus' girlfriend, aren't you?"

Cara blushed and looked down, "No, not anymore anyway."

"Don't mind her," Tali smiled, "She came over during our sixth year on an exchange program and she and Remus went on a few dates...But her parents found out that he was a werewolf and forbid her to talk to him again."

"So you ignored him for eighteen years?" Harry asked incredibly.

"It wasn't my choice. My parents put the Bingel charm on me," Cara said, referring to the spell that severed all contact between two people, "It only broke last year with their deaths, and I had no clue where to find Remus until Tali owled me."

Harry grinned. This was great! He knew Remus had always felt out of place at certain times of the year due to his problem. He never knew that there had been someone in his life before!

The rest of the trip to Hogwarts past by in a blur of conversation, in which Harry was filled in on the finer points of the Marauders' sixth year. Before it seemed that ten minutes had passed, they had arrived, and Cara casually jumped out of the carriage, barely managing to hold still as the others slowly piled out into the sunlight.

"Where is he?" Cara asked, unable to keep the anxiety out of her voice.

"Harry can find him in a jiffy. Come on, we'll take you to your room," Sirius said, tossing his arm over her shoulder and heading off towards the professors' chambers.

Harry nodded in acceptance of the task that had been handed to him. Once they had disappeared into the castle, he snapped his fingers and the Marauders' Map appeared in his hand.

Unfolding it, "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."

The dots and lines stretched across the paper quickly, and Harry was easily able to locate the dot labeled 'Lupin' in his classroom with the dots labeled 'Weasley,' 'Granger,' 'Brown,' and 'Rill.' Putting the map away, he blinked and gave his head a shake and, with a pop, vanished.

"Are you four feeling alright?" Remus asked, "This is stuff you should have covered in first year."

Ron, Lavender, Nyo, and Hermione looked at each other nervously for a moment before turning to Remus again, "Oh…right."

"What about this one?" Hermione prompted, pushing a piece of parchment under the Professor's nose.

Remus read the question, 'Name the three Unforgivable Curses and what they do,' and raised an eyebrow, "Now surely at least you three know that one."

The four read the question and chuckled nervously. Ron turned to Remus, "Excuse us a minute."

They backed away from Remus' desk and huddled.

"Why don't you try reading the question before you ask it, Hermione!" Ron said in a whisper.

"Oh, and I suppose, 'List the four founders of Hogwarts and their houses' is a better question to ask?" Hermione snapped.

"Is fighting all you two do?" Nyo asked.

"You get used to it after a while, trust me," Lavender said, rubbing her temples.

"Is there something I should know about?" Remus asked, poking his head into the huddle.

They shouted and broke apart, "Er…no. Of course not."

"There you are."

Harry strode forward, "Remus, Sirius says he needs to show you something. Says it's important."

Remus nodded, "I'll be right there. Where is he?"

"I'll take you, come on," Harry said grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the room, much to the relief of the others in the room who quickly followed after them.

"Four hours," Ron groaned as they rushed to catch up, "Four bloody hours. They were only supposed to be gone for an hour and an half."

"You know Harry and Sirius. Always up for procrastinating," Hermione smiled.

"I heard that, Herms," Harry said, coming to a stop in front of a "totem" like statue of the Houses' animals (starting from the bottom: lion, badger, raven, snake).

Hermione grinned innocently and Harry leaned in to kiss her. Ron coughed purposefully, "Shouldn't we be getting Remus to Sirius."

Remus looked amongst them, "Are you _sure_ there isn't something you wanted to tell me?"

They all chuckled a bit nervously, but, before Remus could pursue the topic, "Pickled Pumpkins."

The animals on the statue came to life. The lion and raven moved to one side and the badger and snake went to the other.

"I'm not sure you guys are allowed in here," Harry said in a taunting voice.

"Oh, shove over, Harry," Ron rolled his eyes, pushing past him.

Harry grinned and led the group down the hall of the many different professors' bedrooms, coming to a stop in front of an unoccupied room.

"What are we doing here?" Remus asked.

The other five grinned and Hermione pushed the door open, "This."

The door came to a stop after hitting the wall inside the room, causing all those on the other side to freeze.

"...C…Cara?" Remus asked after an eternity of silence, "Cara, is that you?"

Cara's face automatically lit up, "Remus! Oh, Remus! I've missed you so much!"

She ran forward and threw herself in Remus' arms, who was still in shock, "But…but how…what are you doing here?"

"I came to help Tali through the pregnancy," Cara beamed.

"Shouldn't Sirius be doing that?" Remus asked dumbly.

Cara giggled, "That's what I said, too. …Are you objecting to me being here?"

Remus smiled softly, "Not in a million years."

Tali and Sirius quietly made their way out of the room as Cara and Remus walked, hand-in-hand, to the couch, talking in hushed voices.

"Let's let them be for a bit. It's been ages," Tali said, ushering everyone else out of the room and closing the door behind her.

A small trench was beginning to form on the floor of the Headmaster's office. Harry stopped his pacing momentarily and glanced at his wizard watch before sighing irritably. Another hour. He couldn't wait another hour.

A week had passed since Cara's arrival, and she and Remus had spent every waking moment together.

"So much for her helping me with the pregnancy," Tali had joked. But, at the moment, that was the last thing on his mind.

Tapping his foot impatiently, he thought for a moment. That was one of the many awkward things he had run into so far that year. Not only was he not on the same schedule as his friends, but it really didn't matter that he was Headmaster. His godparents could still order him around, and he had to listen.

"Don't you even think about it, Harry Potter," Tali's voice silently echoed off the walls from earlier that morning.

Harry allowed himself to collapse to the floor and stare at the ceiling. There was no way around it, he was bored, and there was nothing to get his mind off the topic that currently refused to be ignored.

Momentarily, he let himself concentrate on the miniscule amount of pain circulating through his body from its rough contact with the stone floor. He sighed again, the pain wasn't even enough to keep his mind away long. He was too used to heavier pain for it to even distract him for more than a few moments. And there he was again, pacing the floor, wearing away into the stone surface.

He closed his eyes as Sirius' forgotten words washed over him: _"Don't listen to her, Harry. She's just being a woman."_

Harry smiled, of course, he had said that when Tali had been weeping hysterically the other night after forgetting to take the potion to keep her emotions in check, but, hey, who's to say he remembered that.

His grin grew wider and he flew out the door as fast as his feet would carry him. He sped past the many classrooms which were filled with students who cast curious glances at the blur that only appeared in the open doorways for a second. It wasn't until he ran, head-first, into a certain caretaker that grunted spitefully.

"Potter," he acknowledged, rather nastily.

Harry fought down his smile. He could never get enough of running into Filch and Snape and knowing they couldn't do anything to him, "Morning, Argus."

The caretaker scowled visibly and Harry nodded, "See you around then."

With that, he took off again, stopping only at the corner to turn and see Filch storming off, cursing under his breath about "little brat getting away with everything." Harry rolled his eyes and continued on his way.

It wasn't long until he came to a panting stop at the bottom of the staircase leading up to Professor Trelawney's classroom. He paused for a moment to catch his breath, leaning against the stone wall, trying to block out the incessant shouts of Sir Cadogan who had begun to follow him at the start of the tower.

"Avast scallywag! Why must you persist to plague my territory? State your business or walk the plank!"

Harry rolled his eyes. He should have known better than to store the pirate picture so close to the tiny knight. He was ten times worse than before, if that was even possible.

"For the last time, I'm Headmaster now, I can go where I please."

"A likely tale!" Cadogan laughed.

Harry shook his head, "Listen, I'm on a quest."

Cadogan stopped instantly and perked up, "A quest, what sort of a quest?"

"I'm on a secret quest for love," Harry said with a smile.

"Love! Quests! By all means go ahead, scallywag! Go, find the woman you love!" Cadogan said, before clambering onto his fat pony and trotting back towards the front of the tower.

Harry rolled his eyes again and headed up the staircase. Thankfully, the class was busy so hardly anyone noticed him. From the looks of it, they were reviewing palm reading. Ron glanced up at him from Neville's hand and grinned hopefully. On the other side of the room, it looked as though Lavender's nose was glued to Nyo's hand as she concentrated on reading it.

"Ah, welcome, Headmaster," Trelawney called out across the classroom.

Everyone stopped and turned to him, and Harry, finding it impossible to stop himself from doing so, rolled his eyes. She couldn't have just walked over to him?

"What brings you to my tower?" she asked, walking over to him.

'Just a little late, Trelawney,' Harry thought.

"Wait, don't tell me," she said, 'going into a trance,' "You've come to get my advice on something."

"Er...no," Harry said and Ron snorted, "Not really."

Trelawney frowned, "Then what can I help you with?"

"I…er...need to swipe Ron, Lavender, and Nyo for the rest of class," Harry said, grinning as Ron shot up with an enthused "yes!"

"What for?" Trelawney asked.

Harry cast a glance at his friends and nodded, "That's…er… Can I talk with you a minute...privately."

She nodded and turned to the class, "I will be back in a minute. Continue with your readings. We'll share results when I return."

Ron settled back in his seat, biting his lip white. Harry was quite sure that Ron was hoping for him to fire the professor, and Harry couldn't help but laugh at the idea. He sure as hell wasn't going to fire anyone, especially now that school had just started. But Ron's anxious face was the last Harry saw of the classroom as Trelawney ushered him back down the staircase.

"Now, what is this all about? You should know by now I don't like my students leaving early," she said, sounding interested.

'Since when?' Harry wondered, "That's sort of private. Undoubtedly you'll find out about it soon enough, but not now. I just—"

Harry stopped when Trelawney suddenly fell to the ground. He let out a yelp of surprise and knelt next to her, "Professor, are you alright?"

He shook her, but she didn't move. Turning her over, he noted that her eyes had rolled to the back of her head, "Merlin!"

"The time is near," an eerie voice echoed out of the hollows of Trelawney's mouth. A voice Harry had heard only once before.

"The time?" he asked, "The time for what?"

Trelawney went on without giving notice to him, "Darkness will soon shroud the school and none will be safe. By day and night terror will walk the corridors, known to none, and only those with the blessings of the great three can stand up to—"

She cut off suddenly, eyes rolling back to their normal position, "Pearly Neptune, what am I doing on the ground?"

Harry was too deep in thought to answer her, though he dumbly helped her to her feet. That was definitely not a good thing. The last time she had had a REAL prediction, Voldemort had come back. The great three? Who were they? And what terror?

"Oh yes, of course. I'll go get them. Wait here," Trelawney said to a quite distant Harry.

She disappeared up the stairs and, moments later, Ron, Lavender, and Nyo tromped down the case.

Harry turned to Ron before a single thing was said, "No, Ron, she's not fired."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yep, yep, a bit of foreshadowing there. Told you all that this wouldn't be all fun and games. But hey, it makes things all the more interesting, doesn't it. Lol, the story is just starting, strap yourselves in for an exciting time! Oh yeah, I know it was to the last one anyway. Sorry, but next chapter will make it worth it, trust me!

NEXT CHAPTER: Hermione's b-day, and two of our least favorite characters remind us why we don't like them. Plus, Nyo has a little secret Harry's VERY close to uncovering.


	9. Ch9: Dinner and Movie

Angelic Demon16: Oh, you shall see.Sorry I can't say more, but I might give it away.

Charlie: Thanks! Once again, congrats on the cool words!

Athenakitty:Winces: Okay, so I didn't get to that part.but I swear you'll find out at the very beginning of the next chapter. I think it ended the chapter better with not letting you know. But, yes, you will see some more of all three of those characters later in the story, but no, they're not the ones I was referring to. And, yeah, he does. Isn't that sweet? I love Remus!

Hedowl5: Thanks! I really appreciate it!

BookCrazy77: Yeah, and we get to know her better in a bit.

Damson Rhee: I know. Sorry. This one's longer though! That's good, right?

Issa2: Thanks! Here it is!

Istalksiriusonweekends: First off, Trelawney's premonition will come to life during a Quidditch game. That's a much as I can tell you on that. Secondly.:Grins evilly: What'd he get her. Nothing, I'm certain, that you've EVER read in another fanfic.

Ears91: Nice guess. I'll keep it in mind, and when I finally tell everyone who it is, you'll either get a cookie or a bonk on the head. Lol, thanks for the review!

Lenne Angel Sakura: Yeah, I know. Can't you just imagine it in the movie? Lol, we get to meet her on the big screen in June! Yay!

Fan: Well.it would have been romantic.if it wasn't for.well, you'll see.

Shdurrani: Oh, but I will!

Lady Reaper of the Shadows: Not happy? It wasn't really a cliffhanger. but don't worry. I promised myself to update this story at LEAST once every week. Is that okay?

Case of the Axe:Grins: Glad you think so. Yeah, I haven't read any 7th year stories with Harry as headmaster.and, trust me, Harry's proposal will be anything but typical.

Wanted: A Happy Ending  
Ch9: Dinner and a Movie

As the broom darted off into the sky, those in the stand groaned. Harry stood up, shaking his head, as the many professors on the Quidditch field hurried to make sure Flitwick hadn't broken anything at the end of his fall. Hadn't he told everyone it wasn't a good idea to have the tiny teacher try out?

He took a moment to scan the crowd of professors until a shaky Flitwick gave him a thumbs-up. Satisfied that he didn't have to send another one of his staff to the infirmary, Harry took his seat again. He was certain to receive an earful from Madame Pomfrey later.

Closing his eyes, he let out another groan. He was lucky tomorrow was Saturday; otherwise he might have had to end up canceling half of the classes. Trelawney, Sprout, Filch, and Pince had already been sent to the Hospital Wing. While he didn't know the condition of most of them, he knew Filch had broken his leg and cracked a rib.

"Isn't there _anyone_ who can play?" he asked desperately, "All we need is another bloody Chaser."

"Too bad Sinistra's a Beater," Sirius said, referring to the only other decent player they had tried out so far, "I could've handled those kids by myself."

Remus looked up from his notepad where he had been repeatedly crossing off the names of the professors, "There is someone who hasn't tried out yet."

"Really, who?" asked Tali.

Remus glanced down at the pad again before turning them with remorse, "Snape."

"Snape?" Sirius exploded before breaking off into sarcastic laughter, "You've got to be kidding, Moony. That git?"

Remus looked at him pointedly, "Unless you have forgotten, Padfoot, that 'git' was captain of the Slytherin Quid—"

"I don't care!" Sirius cut him off angrily, "There's no way I'm playing on the same team as that biased piece of shit!"

"I don't like the idea any more than you do, Sirius, but we don't have a choice," Remus said forcefully, "Either he plays or the game is cancelled. ...And Megan'll rub it in your face from now until she graduates."

Sirius muttered something under his breath before leaning back huffily. Remus turned to Tali and Harry, "Well…I'd love to go ask Snape to join the team, but I've got some papers to grade. I'll see you later."

"Right, and I have to report into Madame Pomfrey for a checkup," Tali said, quickly hurrying away.

Harry watched them until they disappeared and turned to Sirius who stood up, "You know I'd do it, Harry, but I'd probably end up sending him to the Hospital Wing for a couple of weeks."

Harry couldn't help but roll his eyes at how true it was, "Fine, I'll do it. I'm not guaranteeing that I won't do anything, either, though."

Sirius grinned, "Well, if it makes you feel any better, you have my full support to blast that bloody prick from here to next Tuesday."

"Glad for that one," Harry laughed, "Well, I might as well and get this over with."

Harry briefly saw Sirius open his mouth to say something, but he quickly vanished out of sight as Harry apparated into the dungeons of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

With a small pop, Harry reappeared just on the inside of the Potions classroom. Snape, who had apparently been grading papers ('A very popular idea today,' Harry thought), jumped.

"Potter!" he asked, startled, "What are you doing here?"

Harry barely managed to stop himself from reminding his old professor of his title as Headmaster, and that "Potter" wasn't appropriate anymore, "We, that's Sirius, Remus, Tali, and I, noticed that you weren't at the tryouts."

Snape's lip curled, "Why would I want to parade myself around on a broom in front of the entire school? Besides, what makes you think I'm any good?"

"I hear you were captain in your day," Harry bit back a smile at the look on his face.

"Lupin's gone running off at the mouth again, I see," he said curtly, sitting down and shuffling through his papers, "Forget it."

"Ah, come on, Severus-" Snape looked up sharply at that and Harry couldn't help but let a chuckle escape past his lips, "It'll—er—be fun."

Harry knew he was stretching it, using the word 'fun,' but all the same he expected that there had to be a certain level of enjoyment in it for him.

Snape snorted, "Fun. Have you gone off your rocker, Po…Headmaster? What do you think I am? Stupid?"

Harry chose not to answer that particular question, "You can't tell me that you don't like playing Quidditch. You don't become captain by hating the sport."

"Don't go poking your nose into places where it doesn't belong, Potter," Snape said, suddenly dangerous, "My life is more complicated than anyone in this damn school gives credit for."

Harry looked at him curiously, "I'm guessing that you don't want to go into detail about that."

Snape glared at him, "Get out of my classroom, Potter."

"In case you've forgotten, Snape, I'm no longer a student I can be anywhere in this school that I please," Harry said, beginning, for not the first time, to resent the Potions Master's attitude.

The greasy-haired man scowled and looked down to his papers, "All you damn Potters are exactly the same."

Harry glared at him, "Well if you're any representation, your family isn't anything to brag about."

"I could've told you that," Snape muttered under his breath.

"What?" Harry asked, not having heard him.

"Mind your own business," Snape snapped.

Harry uncrossed his arms and walked forward, "So will you join the team or not?"

"No," Snape said curtly.

"Come on, Snape," Harry drawled out before saying something he never thought he'd say, "We need you."

Snape's quill stopped dead in the process of marking an answer incorrect. Slowly, ever so slowly, his eyes rose until they met Harry's face at which point his thin lips grew a nasty grin, "Pardon?"

Harry had to ignore the bitter taste that formed in his mouth at the mere thought of repeating his last line, "We need you."

Snape's grin grew wider and he leaned back in his chair, "Never expected to hear that you. …I'll tell you what. You give one good reason why I should join your silly team, and I'll bail you out this one time."

Harry thought for a moment. What would make Snape want to help out? Harry noticed that Snape's grin widened considerably as the second ticked by.

"Er…because…" Harry's face suddenly brightened up and he grinned, "Because you can grind the Gryffindor team into the ground."

Harry knew that he had him from the moment that the words left his mouth. Snape's grin slowly fell and opportunity twinkled in his eyes like a lion that just spotted its dinner.

"…You win, Potter. When is this game anyhow?"

"Next Saturday," Harry smiled, "See you at practice Tuesday."

"Tuesday?" Snape asked, "Why not tomorrow?"

"Because," Harry turned and started walking out of the classroom, "tomorrow is Hermione's birthday."

* * *

The room wasn't even dimly lit, and it was only by peering through the pitch darkness that one was able to make out the faintest shadow of the object hidden within the confines of the room. Suddenly, the door opened light streamed in, outlining the six figures which hurriedly dashed into the room. 

"Damn that was close!" Ron panted as the lights in Harry's office sparked to life.

"Who's job was it to keep Hermione _away_ from the third floor corridor?" Harry asked.

Lavender chuckled nervously, "Er…sorry. Parvati said she thought she saw a pimple coming in. I had to go wash my face a couple of times."

"You're kidding, right?" Sirius asked, "We had to move that stupid thing here in five minutes flat because of a stupid pimple?"

"I wouldn't be talking, Sirius. Remember when we had to move the statue that used to guard the Slytherin entrance from Trelawney's tower to the Forest in ten minutes because of _your_ pimple?" Remus asked, straightening up.

Sirius grinned slightly, "Ah, you're just upset that we dropped it on your foot."

"Twice," Remus said, raising his eyebrow.

"Er…right," Sirius turned to the others, "So, we still have four hours to burn—"

"Nyo and I better go keep Hermione busy so she doesn't suspect something," Lavender said, pulling on Nyo's hand.

"As if she hasn't already," Nyo said under her breath and Harry smacked his hand to his forehead in agreement.

"Hold on a minute," Harry said, closing the door magically, "It might be four hours for you all, but I have other plans with her."

"You mean there's more?" Ron asked, exasperated.

Harry grinned, "A bit. …We'll meet you there…but do you think you can manage installing this?"

"You kidding?" Tali asked, tapping the huge metal cylinder in the middle of the room with her foot, "We'll have this oversized doorstop installed and ready in fifteen minutes."

"Excellent. See you at seven, then," Harry said with a smile as he disappeared through the door.

He could feel the curious eyes of his friends following all the way down the staircase, and grinned wider because of it. They knew all they needed to know for the evening, and they weren't about to get another dribble of information from him.

When he reached the hall outside his office, he was prepared to go to Gryffindor Tower and look for her when a thin pair of arms found their way around his neck from behind, "Harry!"

Harry turned around and smiled at his girlfriend who beamed at him, "I've been looking all over the place for you. Do you know where anyone else is? It's like they're trying to avoid me."

"Avoid you?" Harry asked, hoping his eyes weren't giving it away.

"I don't know, but I've hardly seen anyone and when I do, they're either a Slytherin or they hurry away. Harry, did I do something?" Harry felt his heart sink as he noticed a trace of tears appear in her eyes, "I don't think anyone even remembers what today is."

Harry made a bouquet of red roses appear in his hand, "What, you mean your birthday?"

Hermione's eyes widened as the flowers found their way into her arms, "Eighteen beautiful roses for eighteen years of beauty."

He was certain that his words were among the corniest he had yet to come across, but they accomplished what he had hoped. Hermione grinned and threw her arms around his neck. Harry felt his heart skip a beat and couldn't help but smile into her cinnamon scented hair.

"Come on," he said, pulling back and tugging on her hand, "If we don't hurry, we'll be late."

"Late?" Hermione asked, "For what?"

Harry didn't trust himself to turn around, knowing that her eyes could get him to do almost anything, including ruin the surprise, "You'll see."

He pulled her around a corner into an abandoned hall, smiling down at her, "Hermione, you trust me, right?"

"Of course," Hermione said, knowing she was getting herself in for something she ought not to.

Harry's grin broadened, "Great! Touch this."

He held out a torn, bloody handkerchief and Hermione looked up at him, "You kept this silly thing?"

Harry shrugged, "What can I say? I'm sentimental."

Hermione carefully reached out and touched the handkerchief. Instantly, she felt herself being pulled forward from her navel.

'A Portkey,' she realized with an ever-growing curiosity.

Opening her eyes, she had no clue as to where she was. One thing she did notice, however, was how out of place she and Harry seemed to be in a building that was packed with Elizabethan dressed people.

"Harry? ...Are we…You didn't…take us into the past, did you?" she asked as a couple walked by, eyeing her disapprovingly.

She felt a warmth flow all over, starting from her back and working outward. When it was gone, she turned looked down at herself to see that she her old Hogwarts robes had been replaced with a common Elizabethan styled dress. Turning around, she expected to see Harry there, but found herself surprised when he was no where in sight.

"Looking for someone, my lady?"

Hermione turned around and smiled, "How'd you do that?"

Harry grinned at her, "Do what?"

Hermione laughed and shoved him. He knew perfectly well what she met. Then again, she knew perfectly well that he had apparated.

"Shall we?"

Harry extended his arm, and Hermione was partially tempted to ask him 'shall we what?' However, by the times the words were half way to her mouth, she realized that Harry wouldn't tell her. So, instead, she linked her arm with his and allowed him to lead her through a huge door where many of the couples appeared to be heading.

"Harry!" Hermione gasped excitedly as they came through the other side of the door.

It turned out that they really weren't in a building at all. Instead, they had been in an entrance hall. Entrance to what?

"Welcome to Shakespeare's first performance of Romeo and Juliet," Harry could barely contain himself as Hermione's eyes popped out her head.

"The _first_?" she breathed.

"Come on," Harry pulled lightly on her hand, "Our seats are up here."

The closer and closer they got to the stage, Hermione couldn't help but notice the contemptuous looks they, two people dressed in common people's clothing, were receiving from all the upper class nobles. She, herself, was beginning to get more nervous with every step forward they took.

"Harry," she whispered in his ear, "Where exactly are our seats?"

They had, by now, reached the front row and, as far as Hermione could see, there weren't any empty seats. Harry opened his mouth to speak but found himself interrupted by a troubled looking man raced up to them.

"Ah, my Lord. At last thou hast arrived." the man looked them over and frowned in confusion, "I do not understand, why thou and thine Lady dressed in such...common clothing."

He said the word "common" with utmost contempt, and Hermione felt her eyes narrow, but Harry put his hand up, "Prithee, Kotting, my Mistress and I simply desire to give the commoners hope. Should they see us in commoner's clothing; it might give them hope that one day they, too, might be one of the elite."

The man, Kotting, said nothing for a moment before nodding, "Alas, I might have known. Forgive me, my Lord. Thine father was much of the same heart."

Hermione looked at Harry, very confused, but Harry pretended not to notice and nodded grimly, "Aye. May his soul rest in eternal peace within the arms of our God."

Kotting made a cross over his heart and bowed his head, eyes closed. Harry nodded, "Kotting, pray tell, unless I'm mistaken, thou were to tell me something when we first arrived."

Kotting opened his eyes and nodded urgently, "I fear to say that Master Shakespeare has requested thine companionship for the duration of the play."

Harry nodded, pretending to be annoyed, "Lead the way, Kotting."

Kotting hurried off, and Harry and Hermione followed after him slowly. Once they were out of earshot, Hermione leaned into Harry, "Do you mind explaining what in heaven's name is going on here?"

Harry laughed, "Simple, really, 'Mione. I came here a couple weeks ago to find out when the play would be, and somehow found myself mistaken to be this guy—George Gutterbe I think they called him—his son."

"And you let them go on believing?" Hermione asked, shocked.

Harry shrugged, "I don't see why not? I researched the guy. They find him dead in another four months."

Hermione gasped indignantly and Harry laughed, "I'm just kidding, Hermione. Some of the Queen's knights find him wandering around the royal forest during the next couple of days. We'll be long gone by then."

Hermione still didn't look too impressed, but, after a minute, laughed at the cleverness of it all. However, before she could say anything, they came to a stop outside a set of curtains the blocked off the rest of a balcony.

"Just inside," Kotting said, waving them through the curtains.

Harry went in first, quickly followed by Hermione, "Where is he?"

"Yonder," Kotting pointed to a throne-like chair where the legendary sat, fanning himself with a folded piece of paper.

"Kotting," Shakespeare said without moving, "Mayhap I am mistaken. But I do believe I told thee to keep the nobles away tonight."

"But, Sire—" Kotting started.

"Wherefore does thee insist on being so difficult?" Shakespeare brought his hand to his head.

"Good 'Morrow, William," Harry said, interrupting.

Shakespeare turned around quickly and grinned when he saw Harry, "Wilfred! Oh, n'er has thine timing been better! I nearly had to endure the companionship of that roughian."

He nodded at Kotting. Who lowered his head and quietly stepped out through the curtains.

"Wilfred?" Hermione whispered under her breath and Harry smiled, though he didn't say anything.

Harry took Hermione's hand and helped her over to Shakespeare where two empty seats were placed, "Come now. Thou can't expect me to have turned down an invitation by _the_ William Shakespeare himself, nod can thee?"

"And who might this maiden be?" Shakespeare asked, eyeing Hermione.

"Ah, allow me to introduce thee to my Mistress, Lady Hermione of Begelle," Harry smiled at her.

"It is an honor to meet thee, Master Shakespeare," Hermione said earnestly.

"The honor," Shakespeare kissed her hand, "Is surely all mine."

Shakespeare broke his gaze from Hermione when Harry sat down, and the playwright shifted his attention, "Tell me, Wilfred, eight years have past since thou had disappeared during the war. Where, pray tell, hast thou been up to…other then the snatching of this fine wench."

Harry grinned, that question alone opened a whole possibility of answers. However, a subtle poke in the side quickly proved that Hermione knew the track of his thoughts. A small smile played upon her lips, and Harry carefully thought about how to answer the question.

Hermione was on the edge of her seat, her hands bunched tightly at her chest. Harry watched her as she slid even farther off the chair until she was on her feet. He had no doubt in his mind that this was her favorite part of the play.

"Romeo. What's here? Poison. Drunk all, and left no friendly drop to help me after. I will kiss thy lips. Happily some poison yet doth hang on them."

Harry turned his attention back to the play where the actor who portrayed Juliet lowered himself over the dying Romeo and kissed him.

"Thy lips are warm."

Harry thought back onto the many times he had seen the play on television. Obviously, this version was quite different than that which he had seen.

"Romeo" moved slightly in "Juliet's" arms, "Thus... with a kiss... I die."

Romeo quickly fell, limp, to the stage, Juliet quickly following him. The remainder of the play passed by in blur. But the very second it was over, a very teary Hermione was curtseying to Shakespeare.

"Sir, that was, by far, the best interpretation of—" Hermione realized what she was saying and shook herself back into a stable state of mind, "of love I've yet to see."

"Grammercy, Lady Hermione. I must say twas a privilege meeting thee," Shakespeare said, standing up, "But I fear I must return home. A splendid idea for a play has reached me."

"Of course, may thee have my blessings," Hermione said, stepping back.

"Aye, I shall hope to see thy both at the showing of it?" Shakespeare said, stopping just outside the curtain.

"As you will have it," Harry nodded.

"Anon."

"Anon," Harry asserted.

Shakespeare smiled, "Deliver my best wishes to thy mother."

"It shalt be done," Harry promised, and, with that, he was gone.

As soon as she was certain they were alone, Hermione threw herself at Harry, "Harry Potter! Thank you so much!"

Harry hugged her back fiercely, "Nothing of it, Hermione, nothing of it."

"This is the nicest, most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me!" Hermione beamed, pulling back.

"Anything for you, Hermione," he said, hugging her again briefly, "Come on, we better get going or we'll be late."

"Late?" Hermione asked, "For what?"

"Oh, you know. Typical teen date. Dinner movie, movie dinner. It's all written in the stars the way it's meant to be done," Harry said, pulling out the handkerchief again.

"Harry, with you, nothing's 'typical,'" Hermione laughed, touching the handkerchief.

A second later, she opened her eyes to find herself in a Muggle parking lot. Instantly, she felt a change in the way the fabric of her clothes fit her, and she looked down to notice that her Elizabethan dress had been replaced with her favorite periwinkle dress robe. Looking to her side, she noticed Harry was in an emerald green dress robe that illuminated his eyes marvelously.

"Hungry?" he asked her.

Hermione, who only at that moment realized that she had skipped lunch, nodded, "Where are we going?"

Harry smiled and turned her around.

"Big Al's Burger Barn?" Hermione asked in shock, though she quickly did her best not to sound disappointed.

She knew Harry had only the best intentions at heart, but after the whole play, she had expected more, "What are we doing here?"

Harry smiled knowingly. He knew Hermione had been hoping for a romantic dinner, but he had other plans.

"Come on. Aren't you hungry?" he asked, tugging on her hand. Putting on a smile, Hermione nodded and allowed him to pull her into the restaurant.

"This is..." Hermione looked around the restaurant that reeked of fast food. "...Nice."

"'Mione, is something wrong?" Harry asked with a little concern.

Hermione smiled and shook her head, "No. Everything is fine, Harry."

He shrugged and led her to a table in the middle of the building, having to push his way through a large group of teenagers that was filling the restaurant. When they reached the table, Harry pulled Hermione's chair out for her which she accepted mutely.

Harry sat across from her and faked a look of curiosity, "'Mione…if something's bothering you-"

"No!" Hermione said a little too quickly, "No. Everything's fine."

Harry looked at her a moment more before picking up his menu and deftly looking over it. He saw a waitress, apparently doing nothing, at the register. After a moment, they had made eye contact and Harry waved her over with his head.

The blonde lazily walked over to the two and pulled out a pen and paper, "Hello. My name is Cara and I'll be your server today."

Hermione looked up, wide-eyed at the familiarity of the voice, and was surprised, to say the least, to see Cara smiling at her in a waitress outfit, "What're you doing, Cara?"

Cara smiled, "Why, haven't you noticed? This is your party."

Still a little confused, Hermione looked around and brought her hands to her mouth when for the first time she noticed that all the "customers" in the restaurant were actually all her friends.

"Surprise!" they all shouted.

Eyes practically bulging out of her head, she turned to Harry who was grinning madly at her, "Happy birthday, Hermione."

Hermione let out a laugh and jumped from her seat into Harry's arms. He stood up and hugged her. From somewhere in the back of the crowd of witches and wizards a call of "kiss her, kiss her" grew steadily louder. Not wanting to disappoint, Harry quickly obliged.

"Psst! Harry!"

Harry broke away from the kiss at the hiss in his ear. Turning irritably, he saw Ron smiling at him, "I'm not sure that, as Headmaster of the school to which all of these fine young students attend, your behavior is entirely appropriate."

Harry rolled his eyes and pushed Ron away before pulling Hermione into another kiss. He could feel Hermione laughing into his lips and he was pleased that she was having a good time. Heaven knew the time it took to rent out the restaurant for the night without the Daily Prophet finding out.

"Enough of that already!" Ron said, jumping up, startling the two out of the kiss, "Let's party!"

Lavender quickly grabbed Hermione and pulled her away. Demanding that it was time for a little 'girl talk' which Harry had no doubt would include all the who, what, when, where, why, and how's of earlier.

"Hey, Harry. Now that Herms is gone, we need to talk," Ron said, pulling him towards a quieter part of the building.

"About what?" Harry asked, still smiling dreamily at Hermione's retreating back.

"Nyo," Ron said simply, and Harry turned to him.

"What about her?"

"Something up, Harry. She's been acting really weird lately."

Harry looked at him, "Weird?"

Ron nodded, "Yeah, like, whenever we somebody mentions you and Hermione in the same sentence, she shuts up and…I don't know. ….I guess what I'm trying to say is that, well, it's kind of like how Ginny used to be around you back before she and Colin started going out."

Harry caught on to what Ron was getting at and laughed, "Don't be crazy, Ron. Nyo and I are friends—"

"That's what I thought, too!" Ron cut him off, "You can't tell me you haven't noticed the way she looks at you. Everyone at school except you and Hermione know it. Why do you think she's treading such a fine line with them?"

Harry looked at him blankly and Ron continued, "Because they think she might try to break you two up."

Harry could hardly believe his ears, "But…Hermione—"

Ron poked his finger in Harry's chest, "Exactly! You know I'm not one to judge people—"

Harry was tempted to remind him of Viktor Krum, but decided that this wasn't the time and he let Ron continue, "—And you know I wouldn't say anything if I didn't see this as a problem, but that's just it. It is a problem."

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked. This was definitely not what he had been expecting to happen at the party.

"Nyo's gone," Ron said flat out.

"Gone?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, gone," Ron said, "You know today's Hermione's birthday. And, let's face it, everyone except Hermione knows you're gonna propose tonight."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Harry asked, not making the connection.

"While you were gone, we were setting up that portable—and I still don't see how it's considered portable. I mean, it took all of us to move the damn thing. It must have been at least five hund—" Harry coughed and Ron scratched his head sheepishly, "Right. Anyway, we were setting up that portable Shakespearean library and Nyo left to the bathroom. And she's gone. We haven't seen her since."

"What?"

"We went looking for her, and Parvati found us. Turns out someone trashed the Gryffindor seventh year girls' room. Especially Hermione's area," Ron said seriously, "We cleaned it up, but, still. I didn't think she'd do that."

Harry couldn't believe it. Nyo wouldn't do that.

"Ron, it couldn't have been her." he led off.

"Really?" Ron asked, raising an eyebrow, "Then where's she now? She was supposed to help us tonight, remember. But, of course, that would mean that she might lose you to Hermione forever. Face it, Harry. She's not really our friend. She's jealous of Hermione. Hell, a lot of girls are, but at least they don't trash her stuff!"

Harry tried to shut it out of his head. He didn't want to believe it, but…Ron was right. Not only did he know that Ron wouldn't lie about something like that, but he _had_ noticed the way Nyo looked at him. He had fooled himself into believing it to be friendship, admiration, but not love.

"I…can we talk about this later, Ron? It's almost time," Harry said, pushing past his friend without waiting for an answer.

He didn't stop until he was outside. The September night air nipped at his nose and he could see his breath on the air. He started pacing. Nyo? No, she couldn't love him. He had Hermione. That was the way it meant to be. He hadn't planed for something like that. Nyo was probably just confused. Judging by her parents, she probably hadn't had many friends. She was probably just confusing her emotions. Yes, that was it.

Harry felt a hand on his should and turned around to see Hermione smiling at him, "Hey, you. What're you out here all by yourself?"

Harry put his hand on her cheek, "Hermione, you know I love you, right?"

"Of course, Harry," she laughed at the obvious question.

Harry took his hand away and started pacing again for a moment before stopping, "Hermione, what do you think about Ny—"

He broke off, he wasn't about to ruin her birthday about something that probably wasn't even a problem, "What do you say we go on back inside. I hear Tali scheduled some live entertainment."

"Is that what that big stage is for?" Hermione said, dawning realization.

Harry laughed and put his arm around her shoulder as they walked back into the restaurant.

"Hey, Harry, Sirius needs to talk to you about covering his classes on Thursday," Remus said, walking up to them.

"What for?" Hermione asked.

"Padfoot and Tali have their first baby-prep class. I'm covering for Tali, but Sirius still needs someone," Remus explained.

"Alright," Harry kissed Hermione on the cheek, "Meet you at our table in ten minutes."

Hermione nodded and Harry walked off into the crowd with Remus, "I thought I already agreed to cover for Sirius."

Remus shrugged, "Needed to tell her something didn't I? Now, get going. Ron and Lavender are ready and waiting."

"Right. Just make sure she's up close. Makes it easier, don't you know?" Harry asked with a corky smile.

"Of course," Remus laughed and Harry ran off.

"And now, as promised, we have a special live performance. This one is dedicated to you, Hermione." said Tali before reading off a card in her hand, "To the one who's always been there for me, no matter how big of an ass I might have been. If it weren't for you I don't know how I would have made it this far. Happy birthday."

As she finished this, she hurried off the stage and the lights dimmed. Hermione had no idea what was going on but had little time to think on it as bright spot lights turned on and slowly the curtain lifted up. Red smoke with golden specks of light floating everywhere was covering the stage and was so thick that it was impossible to see clearly. A figure stood in the center of the stage, tapping its foot impatiently.

Two more figures ran up behind the first one from opposite sides of the stage. Clapping a hand on the first one's shoulders, they mocked a fake, silent, conversation. The first figure took a few steps away from its friends and nodded sideways towards the audience. Then, all of a sudden, music started. The first one started singing and was quickly joined by the other two. The voices sounded deadly familiar, but Hermione couldn't quite place them.

"_I'm layin' it  
On the line to show you  
I'll never let you go  
On the line for your love  
There's nothing I want more_"

On the word 'more', the three figures dropped quickly and hit the floor with their hands before jumping back to their feet, causing the smoke and golden specs flew out towards the audience where it settled close to the ground, revealing none other than Harry, Ron, and Lavender on the stage smiling broadly at the audience.

They looked at those in the room for only an instant before they began dancing as everyone, other than Hermione who was still in shock, started jumping up and down and cheering them on. After a moment, Harry stopped moved forward as Ron and Lavender continued dancing in the background. He appeared to be looking at no one in particular, but Hermione couldn't help but feel that he was talking to her as he sang:

"_Another dead-end street  
Another love gone wrong  
Another shattered dream  
Always the same old song  
I started thinking that  
You'd never come along_"

Lavender and Harry suddenly switched places and Lavender started singing as the boys did back up:

"_I got all this love inside_"

Harry and Ron threw their hands into the air:

"(_All this love inside_)"

Lavender smiled as Harry and Ron joined her on either side and she continued singing:

"_That will show no words tonight I--_"

Harry and Ron quickly joined in:

"_Wish you knew_"

Lavender continued as the boys stopped all movement:

"_What--_"

Harry and Ron suddenly came back to life sang with Lavender:

"_I've been through_"

Lavender tilted her body to the side and pointed directly to Hermione:

"_To get to you_"

Harry jumped forward:

"_I'm layin' it_"

Ron and Lavender started dancing again:

"_On the line to show you_"

Harry was grinning broadly as he briefly caught eyesight with Hermione:

"_I'll never let you go_"

Ron and Lavender looked at each other and smiled:

"_On the line for your love_"

Harry pretended to ignore the looks of lust Ron and Lavender were giving each other as he continued:

"_There's nothing I want more_"

The two seemed to have read Harry's mind and snapped their attention back to the audience:

"_When you smile_"

All three snapped their legs together and motioned identically with their hands:

"_I feel my heart open  
And I know there's nothing  
That I wouldn't do_"

Harry snapped his head to the audience:

"_I'm layin' it_"

Ron and Lavender turned their heads to the audience as well and sang with Harry:

"_On the line this time_"

Harry raised his hand and pointed directly to Hermione:

"_Just to be with you_"

They all started dancing again, as Harry sang by himself, and every person there knew the deeper meaning behind the words:

"_After everything  
My heart's been through  
I treasure every moment  
I spend with you_"

Harry's mind was spinning with resurfaced memories, and he could barely contain his happy laughter as he sang:

"_For me to feel this way  
Is something new_!"

Ron had, casually, danced forward, and now was the center of attention as he sang and Harry shrunk back to join Lavender:

"_Now it's got a hold of me  
It's making me believe  
The love we've got is something  
Unlike any other_!"

Harry fell from the air above Ron, right in front of him, easily on his feet:

"_I'm layin' it_"

Harry and Lavender danced with each other:

"_On the line to show you_"

Ron was to the side, but was still dancing as he sang:

"_I'll never let you go_"

Harry and Lavender were still dancing:

"_On the line_"

Ron joined them:

"_For your love_"

As Harry and Lavender drew out the word 'love,' Ron continued singing:

"_There's nothing I want more_"

Harry and Lavender were dancing independently now as they sang:

"_When you smile, yeah  
I feel my heart open  
And I know there's nothing  
That I wouldn't do_"

Ron shook his head:

"(_That I wouldn't do_)"

Harry had, by that point, blocked out all the noise and commotion that was coming from the audience as he concentrated solely on the dance and song which were growing ever more intense:

"_I'm layin' it_"

Ron and Lavender were glistening with sweat just as much as Harry was as they joined him:

"_On the line this time  
Just to be with you_"

Harry stopped dancing momentarily:

"_No more, yeah, yeah_"

Ron was up front again, singing, as Harry and Lavender danced back up:

"_If you're thinking what he's thinking  
All you gotta do is say the word  
If you tell him what you're needing  
He can give you what you're asking for_"

Harry danced with his upper body, not moving his feet once, as he sang:

"_When I didn't have a prayer  
I thought nobody cared  
I turned around  
And you were there_"

Bright white lights blazed up in all directions, causing everyone to have to shield their eyes for less then a second. However, when they looked back up, the first thing they noticed was that there had been a costume change.

Harry and Ron were dressed in loose black pant and burgundy shirts. Lavender was in a mid-thigh length gold colored sleeveless dress.

The second thing most noticed was the renewed energy of the three on stage. They danced with more fervor than ever as Ron and Lavender sang:

"_I've been waiting for you_"

Harry bounced slightly as he sang:

"(_Waiting for you baby_)"

Ron and Lavender started up again:

"_And I want you to know_"

The volume and enthusiasm with which Harry sang completely dwarfed the efforts put off by Ron and Lavender, though no one was really surprised. Harry was, after all, not only the one who wrote it, but the same person whose feelings went into the song:

"(_I want you to know_!)"

Ron and Lavender were, by now, quite out of breath, no matter the many times they had rehearsed the routine. However, neither wanted to let Harry down anymore than he had already been let down with Nyo, and it was with that persistence that they continued:

"_On the line to show you_"

Harry's mind was concentrated too fully on Hermione to think about anything other than the routine, so he had no trouble going on:

"_You bet I'll never let you go_"

Ron and Lavender constant in the perfectly coordinated movements and it wasn't long until the aches in their sides were but a memory:

"_On the line for your love_"

Harry sang the next part with so much zeal that he couldn't help but bend at the stomach:

"_There's nothing I want more_"

Ron and Lavender relaxed into a more simplistic dance routine:

"_When you smile, yeah  
I feel my heart open_"

Harry and Ron inconspicuously made their way behind Lavender as they sang:

"_And I know there's nothing  
That I wouldn't do_"

Lavender smiled at finally having the spot light and sang her piece:

"(_Doesn't matter what I'm doing_)"

Harry raised his arms:

"_I'm layin' it_"

Ron spun forward and Lavender spun backward in one swift, synchronized movement so they were, roughly, the same distance from the audience:

"_On the line to show you_"

Harry grinned out toward the crowd of people in the building, in particular a speechless brunette in the front row:

"_I'm never gonna let you  
Never gonna let you go_"

Ron and Lavender joined Harry on either side and the two sang:

"_On the line_"

All three started a new part of the dance routine at the exact same moment:

"_For your love_"

Harry spun out of the routine:

"_There's nothing I want more_"

Ron and Lavender continued as if Harry was still with them:

"_When you smile  
I feel my heart open  
Yeah_"

Harry was, once again, in front of the other two as he sang with such intensity, that he couldn't dance at the same time:

"_I know there's nothing  
That I would not do  
I'm layin' it_"

They were all, at that moment, in a line, and all dancing ceased as they chorused each other:

"_On the line this time_"

Ron and Lavender were frozen in their final position as Harry slowly brought his hand down to point to Hermione as he finished out the song:

"_Just to be with you_"

They finished to an earsplitting applause. Breathing heavily and smiles threatening to rip their faces in two, the three relaxed from their closing pose to the song. Harry glanced at Ron and Lavender who grinned even wider, if that was possible, and nodded him on. Confidence assured by this and by the tear stained face of happiness of Hermione, Harry nodded back to them and walked to the front of the stage. He bent down and offered Hermione his hand.

All of a sudden aware of reality, Hermione blushed and smiled shyly as she took his hand. He pulled her onto the stage and the two faced each other. She couldn't care less that he was still more than a little sweaty from his performance as he lifted his hand and gently stroked her cheek. Hermione closed her eyes and felt the rest of the world drift away. All that existed in that moment was she and Harry.

She opened her eyes and smiled, "Thank you."

Harry smiled in reply and she melted. His hand slipped to the base of her neck and drew her into a kiss. Harry, who was still in the real world, heard the cheers and applause of the crowd double at the kiss and smiled to himself as he deepened it. He didn't ever remember kissing her like this before but reminded himself to try it again. When they pulled apart Hermione laughed, bit her lip, and looked down.

"What is it?" he asked her.

"I've just realized that everyone is staring at us." she said, cheeks blushing again.

Harry laughed, "Mind if I embarrass you one more time, then?"

She smirked and looked up at him sideways, "I don't know how you could."

"Hermione, can I ask you a question?" he asked.

She smiled, "Of course."

Harry began to reach towards his pocket when a loud click drew everyone's attention to the back of the room just in time to see a gaggle of paparazzi dash out of the building. Harry sighed and shook his head. How many times was he going to be interrupted before he could propose?

"Sorry," he muttered.

"It's not problem. I wondered what took them so long to get here," Hermione said with a hint of amusement.

"Huh?" Harry asked before he realized that she thought he had been apologizing for the paparazzi, "Oh, right."

"So," she asked, taking his hand, "What were you going to ask me?"

'Better now then never,' he thought to himself and he, once again, reached for his pocket…only to find a loud screech interrupt them.

"For Merlin's sake!" Sirius, Ron, and Harry exploded in frustration at the same time.

A barn owl, obviously one from the school, quickly found its way to Harry's shoulder. He sighed and untied the letter from the owl's leg. Maybe he would be able to propose before he died…yeah, as long as he got to do it before his eightieth birthday he'd be happy. Shaking his head, he unfolded the letter and felt his eyes narrow.

"What is it?" Lavender asked, walking up to him.

Harry stuffed the letter in his pocket and turned to them, "Nothing. You guys just have a fun time. I'll meet you back at Hogwarts later."

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

Harry turned to her and kissed her cheek, "Don't worry about it. I'll see tomorrow. Happy Birthday, Herms."

And, before another question could be asked, he was gone in a pop.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Lots of stuff to think about, huh? Well, let me apologize first off. For those of you who haven't read Wanted: Love, I'm certain that the whole song didn't make much sense, but for the rest of you, what do you think? Nice way of linking the two stories, right? Anywho, don't ask about the whole Shakespeare thing. Honestly, I don't know. I started writing and it just came out.

NEXT CHAPTER: Harry has something.unexpected to deal with at Hogwarts. We find out where Nyo went for all that time. Ron vows to keep an eye out for all his friends. And, possibly, the Faculty v. Gryffindor Quidditch game. The last one isn't a guarantee. It's a possibility!


	10. Ch10: Darkness Beckons

Fan: Lol, it's only been interrupted twice.but, alas, it's not gonna happen this chapter. As for Nyo.I don't think she's gonna have very many fans as time goes on.

Athenakitty: Can't say anything about Snape. And was that trip to the past bad? A lot of people keep mentioning it. And as for your other two questions.you'll see in this chapter.

Crater212: Maine? And what's the big deal? That song gave me the entire idea for this story. And it wasn't half the chapter, either. You read the first story in this series.of course Harry would change. :Pouts: I hate flames.I'm just gonna go now.

Englishgirl: Thanks! Really needed that after the last review!

Ears91: Will it ever happen? Maybe. As for the letter, yes, it's about Nyo. What about her, though. Read on and find out.

Issa2:Winces: That's probably my fault for not updating in so long. :Sigh: Been way to busy lately. Anywho, Nyo's the new transfer student at Hogwarts who has a little crush on Harry.

Bookwormgirl: If you're reading this, I'd be glad to help you. Didn't have your e-mail, though, so I couldn't e-mail you.leave it to me in your next review and we can chat! And as for Harry being more of a Headmaster.oh, he's gonna buckle down very soon.

Istalksiriusonweekends: Yes, but you know what they say. All good things come to those who wait.

Lenne Angel Sakura: Umm.Sorry 'bout that. Didn't mean for it to take so long.this one either.

Bookcrazy77: Thanks!

Lady Reaper of the Shadows: Cruel, yes, but all the better to keep your interest with, my dear. Lol.

Charlie: Yeah, everyone's mad at her at the moment.sorry to say you probably won't like her much later on in the story, either.

Wanted: A Happy Ending  
Ch10: Darkness Beckons

"Oh, good. You're here," Madame Pomfrey said, hurrying over to him in the brightly lit Hospital Wing.

"Where is she?" Harry asked, allowing Pomfrey to steer him toward an occupied bed.

Pomfrey motioned to the bed, "Severus found her in the dungeons."

"Where's he now?" Harry asked.

"He went to go get Dumbledore," Pomfrey cast a glance back to the door.

Harry sighed heavily and took a seat in the chair next to the bed, "It figures. My first month as Headmaster, and already one of my students is in the Hospital Wing."

"Now, Mr. Potter," Pomfrey said sternly, "What kind of attitude is that for you to have? Why, I haven't worked here a single year without having some troublesome student get injured the first week! This is a record for me."

"Any idea of what happened?"

Pomfrey shook her head, "I can't say that I know for certain. Obviously she has been petrified, how I don't know, but that cut."

Harry turned his attention to the perfectly circular cut on the girl's forehead. It looked as though someone had branded her with a fire-hot pipe. He cautiously brought his hand to it. Before his fingers even touched the skin, he felt heat radiating off the injury.

"Odd." he whispered under his breath.

He carefully touched the cut and a flash of black and blue flew past his eyes. He jerked his hand away and stood up suddenly.

"Is something wrong?" Pomfrey asked.

Harry quickly shook his head, "No...no. Everything's fine."

"I understand, Severus. That is quite enough."

The two in the room turned quickly to see Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall staring sternly at Snape who crossed his arms, "I am just—"

"Ah, Harry, nice to see you again. I do wish it might have been under better circumstances," Dumbledore said, walking over to the bed, "That is the girl, I presume?"

"Merlin, what happened to her?" McGonagall asked breathlessly, eyes glued to the cut.

"I don't know," Pomfrey said shortly, obviously not pleased at not being able to diagnose the problem, "Severus found Miss Nickels in the dungeon and brought her straight to me."

Harry looked back into the petrified face of the young blonde Ravenclaw third year, "Professor Sprout is having her second years grow Mandrakes again."

"Mandrakes? They won't be ready till the spring. Surely you know some sort of spell to counter this," Snape said with a small sneer.

"There's no spell for petrification. Only Mandrake juice can cure it," Harry said, looking indignantly at the greasy-haired professor.

"That may be, but the question still remains of _how_ she became petrified in the first place," McGonagall said.

"It couldn't be another Basilisk again?" Pomfrey wondered out loud.

All eyes fell to Harry who shook his head, "I doubt it. I've been running around this school for the past week trying to get things ready for Hermione's birthday, and I haven't heard anything. …I suppose I should keep an ear out for anything, though."

"I agree. I find it hard to believe that Hogwarts might play host to two Basilisks in such a short time span." Dumbledore nodded.

"Well, I actually wouldn't mind it so much. After last year, killing another Basilisk would hardly be difficult. Besides, look at her forehead. I don't recall _that_ happening last time." Harry tapped his foot as he thought, "What happened…"

"That is the question, isn't it?" Snape cast a glance at Harry who glared at him.

"Now, now, Severus. You must learn to show more respect to your Headmaster," Dumbledore said calmly, "After all, Mr. Potter was out proposing at the time, if I'm not mistaken. By the way, Harry, how did that go?"

Harry sighed heavily and shook his head, "Well…let's just say paparazzi have a habit of turning up at the wrong time."

If he wasn't mistaken, Harry could almost swear that he heard Snape snort back a laugh, but he could never be certain of this, for at that very moment, a loud piercing scream broke through the very walls of the castle. Everyone in the room froze and looked at each other.

"What was that?" McGonagall asked quietly.

Severus rolled his eyes, "Nothing. It sounded to have come from the Forbidden Forest."

"That wasn't anything from the Forest," Harry said definitely, "That was human."

As if to assert this belief, the scream sounded again. Accompanying it this time, however, was Hedwig who zoomed into the Hospital Wing so quickly that it was almost as if she had seen a ghost. She screeched loudly at them before grabbing Harry's shirt and pulling him back out through the window causing those still in the Hospital Wing to shout out.

The second the cool September air hit his face, he knew why Hedwig had been in such a frenzy. Along the edge of the Forbidden Forest, another one of his students was running from two adults who cast spell after spell at the student. Instantly, Harry something was familiar about the trio, and he urged Hedwig on faster.

They were drawing closer now, and Harry was barely twenty feet away when one of the spells hit the student and he fell to the ground. The adults slowed now, walking casually to the still form of the student. Harry, close enough now to see who it was, narrowed his eyes.

The woman of the duo started to reach out towards the student when, out of no where, Hedwig released Harry and he landed directly between the adults the still form of the young girl.

Harry's wand was level with the woman's nose and he spoke in a low voice, "Don't even think about it, Mrs. Rill.'"

Belle, shocked to see anyone, let alone Harry, shrieked and jumped back to join her husband. Harry looked over his shoulder at Nyo who was quite clearly not about to get up on her own.

Turning back to the other two, he glowered, "I think you have some explaining to do."

"We have nothing to say to you," Quincy said, his hand discreetly moving to his pocket, "She's ours, and we'll do as we please with her."

He suddenly drew his wand, but Harry beat him to it, "Deserus Croxia!"

The two flew back, landing with a rather loud crunch on the ground. Sneering at them, Harry turned and knelt next Nyo, cursing himself mentally. He could have prevented this. He, himself, had been in the same situation not but a year ago, he knew the signs.

"Tripindium!"

Harry whipped around to see Belle and Quincy, who had apparently been sneaking up on him, sail back into a couple of trees.

"How is she, Harry?" Dumbledore asked, coming up next to him.

"She'll be okay. Madame Pomfrey should look at her, though," Harry said, picking Nyo up.

A flash of light, and Harry felt an acute dull pain sear across his cheek.

"This isn't over yet, Potter!" Quincy bellowed, lowering his wand before disappearing with a pop along with his wife.

"Are you okay, Harry?" McGonagall asked, quickly grabbing his face and looking at the deep cut on his cheek.

Harry continued to stare at the spot where Nyo's parents had been but a moment before, "Yeah…yeah, I'm fine. We should get her back to the Hospital Wing, though."

McGonagall nodded and let go of Harry's face. Harry started back to the school but stopped when he reached Snape who was staring at seemingly nothing, "Something wrong?"

Snape suddenly snapped back into reality, "What? Oh, no. Nothing at all…that woman...she just seems terribly familiar."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Ron shouted.

Harry clamped his hand over Ron's mouth and grinned sheepishly at the students in the room who stared at them.

"Harry, are you sure?" Hermione asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Harry looked around at those who continued to stare at them briefly before motioning for his friends to follow him and the quartet headed out of the Great Hall. Once the doors had been completely closed behind them, Harry released Ron.

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked again.

"You think I'd say something like this without being positive?" Harry asked, starting to walk down one of the corridors, "I think that I, of all people, would know when someone's been abused. If you're still not sure, ask Snape. He was there too."

"I never said I didn't believe you, Harry," Hermione said indignantly, "I just…I just can't believe this would happen again... And so soon."

"At least it explains why she wasn't at the party yesterday," Lavenders stated.

"Yeah, and why Hermione's stuff was all over the place. That must have been where they got her," Ron said knowledgably.

"What?" Hermione asked.

Lavender and Harry looked at Ron before rolling their eyes. "We found your stuff trashed yesterday when we were installing your portable library," Lavender said.

"Yeah, Ron thought Nyo had done it," Harry said, snorting at the absurdity of it.

Ron crossed his arms, "Well, _excuse_ me. I just thought that with Nyo lik—"

Harry glared at Ron from behind Hermione's back and Ron shut up quickly, "Never mind."

"What about that Nickels girl?" Hermione asked.

Harry sighed and shook his head, "Pomfrey and I were working on an antidote all last night. Looks like we're going to have to wait for the Mandrakes, though."

"Do her parents know?" Lavender asked.

He nodded, "I apparated to their house this morning. They weren't too happy, but they…well, they want her to stay here until the cure is ready."

"More like demanded she stay here."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Perfect timing as usual, Padfoot."

Sirius smiled ruffled Harry's hair before turning to their friends, "They were flipping out. Said the safest place for her was here…I guess it never occurred to them that this is where it happened in the first place."

"Yeah, well…I don't think I need to tell you guys to keep this quiet. The last thing I need is another panic like in our second year," Harry said, shaking is head at the would-be drama.

"No problem there mate," Ron said, punching Harry's shoulder jovially.

"You three best be on your way if you don't want to be late to your first class," Remus said, walking past them.

"We have you first, Remus," Ron said with little concern.

"All the more reason to hurry," Remus smiled as he continued on his way, "I hear Professor Lupin can be a monster with tardiness."

Ron, Hermione, and Lavender laughed, but bid farewell to Harry and Sirius before following their professor.

"I have to go, too," Sirius said, "I promised to show those Newbourn twins a couple of pointers before class."

Harry smiled, "Fine by me. Just nothing too dangerous, Sirius."

Sirius smiled innocently, "Who, me?"

Before Harry could say anything, Sirius had turned down a corridor, leaving Harry alone in the entrance to the Hospital Wing. Shaking his head, he silently prayed Sirius didn't create a worse version of Fred and George.

Once Sirius' footsteps had faded from his ears, Harry headed into the Hospital Wing. Madame Pomfrey was busy administering some kind of supplement to Nickels, and she didn't even notice him as he walked threw the curtains to where Nyo was resting.

She wasn't facing him, but Harry could tell she was awake. He himself had too often pretended to be asleep that he could pick up on all the tiny signs.

"I hear that telling your Headmaster something important can save you a lot of trouble in the future," he said, crossing his arms.

Nyo didn't move, and Harry took a seat in the chair, "I know your awake, Nyo."

"Please just leave me alone," she mumbled through the blankets.

"Sorry, no can do. I know you don't like it, but you have to talk about it," Harry said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Says who?" she muttered.

Harry smiled bittersweetly and cocked an eyebrow, "Don't you think I'd know?"

Nyo didn't respond to that, she only pulled the blankets tighter around her neck. Harry sighed and stood up, "Well, if you don't want to talk about it, you might as well go back to class. Pomfrey and I fixed up all your injuries. There's nothing stopping you."

She did nothing for a moment before starting to stand up. Harry laughed and gently pushed her back down, "Hey, I was just kidding. Pomfrey'd kill me if I let you go now. She wants you in bed till tomorrow."

Nyo, sitting up now, drew her knees to her chest and looked at him, "What do you want to hear me say? You know everything already."

"If I knew everything I wouldn't be in here asking you. How'd your parents get in here? They shouldn't be able to apparate, but last night proved me wrong. And how long has this been going on? Why didn't you ever tell anybody?"

Nyo snorted, "Obviously you don't."

"Huh?" Harry asked.

"You said you know what I'm going through. Bull. If you did, you wouldn't be asking me that. You should know the answer yourself," Nyo said, sneering slightly.

Harry smiled quietly, "I know why _I_ never told anyone, but I don't know why _you_ never did, especially after you got here. Don't you think I could've helped you before it got this far?"

"Even if I didn't tell you, there's nothing you could have done. You don't know them. They've always gotten things their way. They'd've gotten me eventually," Nyo said bitterly.

Harry was quickly reminded of his own words the previous year when he had been on the other side of this conversation and he shook his head, "No they wouldn't've. There are steps to be taken. Especially here at Hogwarts. You're surrounded by dozens of fully trained wizards."

Nyo turned away, "It doesn't matter anyway. What's done is done."

Silence fell upon the two for the better portion of ten minutes until it was finally broken my Harry standing up, "Nyo, last night I was talking to Dumbledore and McGonagall. They've gone ahead and taken the measures. You're parents don't have control over you anymore."

"What?" she asked quietly, looking back at him.

"You're nearly finished with school. The Ministry has agreed to dissolve the rights your parents have over you," Harry smiled at the shocked look on her face, "You're free from them now."

"But…but..." Nyo stuttered.

"The professors and I here at Hogwarts are your 'parents' until the summer, but after that, you're free," Harry grinned, "Your mum and dad—"

But before he could finish, he found himself thrown back by an ecstatic hug Nyo sent his way. Instantly, Ron's words raced to the front of his mind and Harry felt rather uncomfortable. Careful as to not appear to be doing so, Harry squirmed to remove himself from her arms.

"Listen, I have some work to do up in my office. You should try to get some rest…you're going to need it if you plan to beat me tomorrow."

The cheering and yelling that was already deafening, only tripled as the doors leading into the Quidditch field opened. Harry couldn't help but grin as the bright sun hit his face and the oh-so-familiar feeling of anticipation of a great game filled his being from head to toe.

On the other side of the field, he could see Gryffindor's team already filing out onto the field, and it was only then that he realized how awkward it was to be playing a game of Quidditch without his red and gold uniform. Looking down at the clothes Parvati and Padma Patil had designed, they seemed very similar to those of the other houses, only black and white with a Hogwarts crest stitched onto the cape.

"Ready?" he asked, turning around.

It was quite apparent that all were excited about the game with the exception of a certain Potions Master. Snape's eyes narrowed to mere slits as the rest of his teammates let out an enthusiastic response to Harry's question. His arms were crossed, and Harry had to turn back around to hide his smile.

"Let's go then!" he shouted, and the team bounded out into the center of the field with eager whoops.

Harry was certain that, had he still been a student, he would have found the whole prospect of a Quidditch team of professors a most entertaining prospect, and, apparently, so did his pupils.

Laughter rang out from the stands as the portly Professor Vector tripped over his cape, nearly colliding roughly to the surface. Harry groaned inwardly. If Megan, Ginny, and Colin were half as good as they were last year, then it was bound to be a close game.

Once they had reached the middle of the field, Harry became quite aware of the dangerous looks Megan was sending his way. He had no doubt as to who would become the next captain of Gryffindor's team after Ron graduated.

"Hey, Harry, nice day for a game, huh?" Ron asked jovially.

"You don't talk to the enemy! Let alone make small talk!" Megan said venomously.

Harry wasn't the only one who had to laugh at that. Both teams, with the exception of Snape and Megan, laughed heartily. Typically, words such as the ones she had just produced would be a cause for indignation and arguing, but as it was Megan who had said it, no one took it seriously. She had far too much of her brother in her to waste concern on.

"Captains shake hands," Trelawney said.

When she had first volunteered to referee the match, Harry had flat out refused, along with a good portion of both teams, but when all the other teachers were discovered to be incapable of flying or being able to avoid Bludgers, there had been few other options.

Ron and Harry shook hands briefly.

"Good luck, mate," they said simultaneously before laughing.

"Get on your brooms," Trelawney instructed.

"That's 'mount' your brooms," Megan said, annoyed. Harry shook his head. He couldn't imagine what Mr. and Mrs. Wood had to put up with the other year during the World Cup. Oliver and Megan, from what he had heard, were supporting different teams. Harry shuddered at the thought.

"Yes, yes, that's what I said," Trelawney said mistily and both teams hovered in the air.

"And the Bludgers erupt! Followed by the golden snitch—"

Harry let the Newbourn twins' voices fall into the back of his mind where he could easily conjure them back forward should he have the need to.

Looking around, he saw Madame Pomfrey shouting at Nyo to 'get off that broom this instant!' Apparently, the matron had forgotten about the game, otherwise she would have held Nyo there until after the match.

Nyo rolled her eyes and flew off in the opposite direction of the Professors' stand. Harry watched her dodge a Bludger before letting his eyes wander the field again. Directly below him, Ron blocked shot sent by Tali who promptly cursed and flew off in the other direction.

Harry noted with brief amusement that as she flew past Pomfrey, the nurse once again attempted to order her off the broom claiming that it was 'far too dangerous for a pregnant woman to play Quidditch.'

A Bludger flew past his ear, and Harry darted sharply to the side from instinct.

"—And Weasley scores again, making the score fifty to twenty," Alex Newbourn's voice echoed in the back of Harry's head.

Harry looked down to see Sirius hit a Bludger in Ginny's direction, though it was quite apparent that it wasn't intended to hit her. The only one seemed to be taking the game seriously was Megan who was currently shouting at Sirius for his Bludger.

"You could have killed her!" Megan screeched.

"Megan, it wasn't anywhere near me," Ginny said, flying off towards the other side of the field.

"Yeah, lucky he's not a good Beater!" Megan said wretchedly.

"Someone's a little loopy," Nyo said to Seamus and Dean who laughed.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Rill. You're still new here. Be careful or you might find yourself off the team," Megan warned.

Nyo laughed and rolled her eyes before flying off again.

Harry sighed. At least _he_ wasn't on the same team as her anymore. She was a nice person, but when a game rolled around, she was just plain crazy.

"Gryffindor scores again!" Barry Newbourn screamed through the speaker system.

Harry whipped his head around and saw Colin high five Ginny. Which one had scored, he didn't know, but at least Megan seemed to be pleased again.

"That's the ticket! Show 'em that old Gryffindor fight!" she shouted.

Back in the stands, Harry noted that Hermione and Lavender seemed to be debating about whose team to cheer for. Every time someone scored, they would cheer before looking around as if wondering if they had done the correct thing. Harry laughed and peered around, looking for the snitch.

Distantly, he heard Trelawney float by muttering something about how the outcome of the game would spell certain doom to the winning team. Harry wondered if he might be able to persuade Lavender to take over for the bat next year. The idea was quickly put the back of his mind, though, as a flash of gold dashed past by his face.

Instantly, before he could even bend to move his broom, he felt it start to zoom after the snitch. The element of surprise in this nearly caused him to lose his grip on the handle, but he reminded himself that that was what the broom was designed to do, follow brain messages.

The broom suddenly pulled into a dive, and Harry's grip slipped temporarily but he flushed his body with the broom and soon was diving with such speed, that he would later hear that he had been nothing more than a streak of color. Tears started to form in the corners of his eyes from the wind, and he began to wonder how close he was to the ground when he found a sudden pressure in his palm.

As quickly as the dive had begun, it ended, and Harry found himself staring breathlessly forward with a golden ball of feathers struggling against the strength of his fingers. The broom wasn't exactly new to him, he had ridden in several times before, but _never_ had it gone that fast.

After a few minutes, he felt himself begin to regain feeling in his body, and realized that he had been holding his breath. Breathing deeply, he noticed that there was complete silence in the stands and on the field. Swallowing, a dry mouth, he hopped off his broom, three feet from the ground.

Then, up in the sky, someone shouted "Bloody hell!" and a monstrous explosion of cheering literally shook the ground beneath Harry's feet. Dimly, he could hear the Newbourn twins shouting the results of the match.

"And after that amazing, unbelievable, remarkable, totally wicked awesome display of flying talent, our Headmaster managed to tie the score! What a fitting end to such an anticipated game! And what a display of that new Starshooter 83! I have GOT to get me one of those!"

"Bloody hell!"

Harry turned around to face a large group of people, Ron in front. His eyes were popping out of his head, much like how Harry's hair was pointed up in every direction.

Ron breathed a laugh and shook his head, "Bloody hell."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yeah, I know it's been forever! I'm super sorry! Please no flames because of that! But it's my senior year, and I have a job, and I'm in 6 clubs at school! I am so incredibly busy.But, anyway, did you like the chapter? I truly am going to try to have it updated ASAP!

NEXT CHAPTER: Trelawney's not such a 'bat' after all. Harry and Snape get a well deserved reward. Snape gets exposed. And Harry becomes quite serious on a couple of matters.


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